Wayback in 2008, two young batsmen, who also happened to be the captain of their respective teams, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson were battling against each other in the under 19 World Cup semi-final.
Eleven years later, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson will be playing against each other in another World Cup semi-final, on a different venue. The three players from the New Zealand team who featured in the U-19 World Cup will also be part of their senior side of the World Cup are Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, and Tim Southee. For India, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja are the two players who will be part of both the U-19 2008 semi and World Cup 2019 semi squads.
A Twitter thread on this co-incidence went viral, and even Virat Kohli mentioned this in the pre-match press conference.
During 2008 under 19 world cup semifinal, India beat New Zealand by 3 wickets.
India was lead by Kohli.
New Zealand was lead by Williamson.Both going to face off each other in 2019 Odi world cup semifinal, again as captains of their respective countries. #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/Y6IP91U0QJ
— Johns (@CricCrazyJohns) July 6, 2019
Speaking to media, Kohli said, “I’m sure he remembers. When we meet tomorrow, I’ll remind him. It’s quite nice to captain the senior team in a World Cup from U19. There are a lot of players from our batch and their batch, and from other teams who have made it to the national team. It feels good.” He said that neither he nor Williamson could have anticipated this would happen. “I got Kane’s wicket, did I?. I don’t know if that can happen again now,” he added.
Kane Williamson had a similar reaction when he was reminded of their U19 clash in 2008, “Oh dear, tell me how. He used to be an all-rounder I think back in the day, but hasn’t bowled as much recently.”
Indian innings highlight from U-19 World Cup Semi-final
The U19 World Cup semi-final was played on February 27, 2008, in Kualalampur. Kane won the toss and decided to bat first in the rain-affected match. New Zealand scored 205 in their 50 overs. Kane who played as an opener scored 37 off 80 balls and the wicket-keeper of Kohli’s delivery stumped him. Tim Southee scored 11 runs at number 5, while Boult didn’t get a chance to bat. Ravindra Jadeja took a wicket in his six overs spell in which he gave 21 runs.
India got a target of 191 runs to chase in 43 overs through the Duckworth-lewis method due to rain. Virat Kohli scored 43 runs in the chase and was caught by none other than Kane Williamson. Kohli also added 84 vital runs with wicket-keeper Goswami which helped the team to chase the target successfully in 41.3 overs. Jadeja scored one run for the team. Southee took four wickets while Boult took 1. Virat Kohli was adjudged man of the match for his 43 runs and two wickets.
India plays against New Zealand today at Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
