Sooryavanshi and Mhatre reflect on ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup success

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi admitted he was struggling to put his achievements into words after smashing 175 to lead India to victory in the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2026 final.

The 14-year-old’s 80-ball assault, which included 15 fours and 15 sixes, set up his side’s 100-run win over England and their sixth U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup title.

It marks the latest achievement in Sooryavanshi’s remarkable story, with a century in a major final now added to a CV which also includes tons in the IPL and for India A.

His knock took him to 439 runs for the competition, at a strike rate of 169.49, and saw him named Player of the Tournament – following in the footsteps of compatriots such as Yuvraj Singh, Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara.

“I can’t express how I am feeling,” he said. “All the preparation all the support staff has put in for all the games have brought us to this stage. I would like to dedicate this award to them.

“For the last eight or nine months, all of us have been working together and the preparation started way before the Asia Cup. That has helped us to where we are now.

“I have grown to become very confident in the skillset I have developed and I know I can perform in big games under pressure.”

India captain Ayush Mhatre hailed the opener’s knock having had the best view in the house for much of it.

Mhatre scored 53 in a 142-run, second-wicket stand between the pair which went a long way to ensure he would end the day lifting the trophy.

“It is a memorable moment for us in our cricketing journey,” he said.

“The boys played very well. We played our natural game and I am very happy.”

“We have no words for him (Sooryavanshi) as a player or that innings. We know he is a fabulous batsman and he has shown what he can do.”

“We are happy to carry on the legacy. Rohit Sharma and Harmanpreet have won the World Cup and now we have too.

“I will really miss this group of players, we will not play again in the same team but we will carry forward the memories, this attitude and play this kind of cricket into the future.”

England arrived in the final unbeaten but Sooryavanshi’s knock left them with too many runs to chase, despite fine knocks from centurion Caleb Falconer and Ben Dawkins, who scored 66.

Captain Thomas Rew said: “It is always going to be tough when a player like that gets going.

“He has shown us what he can do before and we were scratching our heads a bit at times. We did our research, we wanted to use our change-ups and stick to the top of the stumps, but today Vaibhav came off and fair play to him.

“It was a great effort from our batters, Caleb played an unbelievable innings and it is testament to the mindset to go out and try and chase that.

“At the break, we were really excited by going out there, playing our shots and having fun. We didn’t get over the line but we showed some great fight.”