ICC U19 World Cup 2024: Two most recent champions the teams to watch in Group A

USA

Making their third U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup appearance, USA returns to the competition for the first time since 2010. Before that, USA made their maiden appearance in the 2006 edition of the tournament in Sri Lanka.

Securing qualification in a thrilling manner, USA triumphed over Canada in the final Americas Qualifier match, determined by the DLS method. Despite both teams finishing level on points, the USA's superior net run rate ultimately earned them the coveted spot in the premier U19 tournament.

A standout performance for the team in the Americas Qualifier was when they put up a mammoth 515 against Argentina before bowling out the opposition to win by a whopping 450 runs.

Squad

Amogh Arepally, Rayaan Bhagani, Aaryan Batra, Khush Bhalala, Prannav Chettipalayam, Arya Garg, Siddarth Kappa, Bhavya Mehta, Aarin Nadkarni, Manav Nayak, Parth Patel, Rishi Ramesh (c), Utkarsh Srivastava, Ateendra Subramanian, Aryaman Suri.

Fixtures

19 January: v Ireland, Bloemfontein
26 January: v Bangladesh, Bloemfontein
28 January: v India, Bloemfontein

Watch out for

Prannav Chettipalayam

The leading run-scorer in the Americas Qualifier, USA’s Prannav Chettipalayam has piled on a mountain of runs over the last year. He started the tournament with a half-century against Bermuda and followed it up with two more fifties in the next three games.

In a standout performance, Chettipalayam smashed a remarkable 136 off 104 balls in USA's penultimate game, significantly boosting their net run-rate. Displaying composure in the final Qualifier match, he remained unbeaten, guiding his team to victory and securing their qualification for the U19 Men’s CWC 2024.

What they said

Rishi Ramesh, USA captain: “Personally I will be looking towards our game against India, because I think they are historically one of the biggest teams in cricket. A win against them specifically would be quite historic for the nation of the USA.”