The Bittersweet U19 World Cup Final

On this day in 2000, the Malintha Gajanayake led Sri Lanka Under 19 team were defeated by India in the Under 19 World Cup finals in the country's only time instance a team came into the finals of the Under 19 World Cup, which is still the best achievement in the tournament's history.

Leading India was Mohomad Kaif, with future World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh was also part of this team, along with Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Ajay Ratra and Venugopal Rao who made it to the senior side of the Indian Cricket team.

The finals were held at the SSC, and Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. However, their dream to win the World Cup was cut short by as many as 4 run outs, as Jehan Mubarak the lone fighter top scored with 58 runs and Sri Lanka were all out for 178.

In the end, India won the match with 6 wickets to spare and Reetinder Sodhi won the player of the final. Yuvraj Singh was adjudged the best player of the tournament. Sri Lanka despite being a dominant bowling side and having taken maximum home advantage throughout the tournament, missed the crown to their neighbours.

The Unlucky Talent

As already mentioned and an achievement that's not spoken enough, Malintha Gajanayake is the only Sri Lanka Youth captain to lead a side into a finals. However, he wasn't lucky to play for the senior national team. The Sri Lanka A team was as far as he went but he eventually played County cricket in the UK.

Other team members like Jehan Mubarak, Thilina Kandambi, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Akalanka Ganegama and Prabath Nissanka on the other hand, made it to the national side but didn't have very long careers. As for Ian Daniels who was the 3rd highest run scorer in the tournament, he never made it into the senior side like his teammates.

Here's a Tweet from our good friend Kanchana Pitigala on his page Cricfinity on the unlucky talent who missed the cut during a very competitive era of Sri Lankan Cricket.

25 years on, the memory of this loss still lingers. This Sri Lankan youth side was perhaps the most talented the country has ever seen, possessing not only exceptional skills but also incredible maturity. Although many went on to represent Sri Lanka, they struggled to cement… pic.twitter.com/DRVy6hYTFT

— Cricfinity (@cricfinity) January 28, 2025

It is interesting to note that several other future stars like Shoaib Malik (Pakistan), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Marlon Samuels (West Indies), Tim Murtagh (England), Niall O'Brien (Ireland), Jonathan Trott and Graeme Smith (South Africa), Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson (Australia) would go on to play for their respective national sides, with Trott and Murtagh being exceptions who changed countries and played for England and Ireland respectively.