The ACC U19 Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled to start on December 12 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). This tournament will highlight the future stars of the game, much like how previously, many current star Indian players played in the U19 Asia Cup.
There will be a total of eight participating teams in the Under-19 Asia Cup 2025. Bangladesh are the defending champions, having won the tournament in 2024, while the other teams include India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who qualified through the qualifiers.
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But most of the eyes will be on the most successful team in the competition’s history, Team India, who have won the U19 Asia Cup a total of eight times.
Previously, many of the current generation’s star Indian players played in the U19 Asia Cup. Today, we will highlight some of those players in this article.
Star Indian Players Who Once Played in the U19 Asia Cup
| Player | Years |
|---|---|
| Dinesh Karthik | 2003 |
| Irfan Pathan | 2003 |
| Sanju Samson | 2012, 2013 |
| Kuldeep Yadav | 2013 |
| Prithvi Shaw | 2016 |
| Shubman Gill | 2016 |
| Abhishek Sharma | 2016, 2017 |
| Riyan Parag | 2017 |
| Arshdeep Singh | 2017 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 2018 |
| Tilak Varma | 2019 |
| Dhruv Jurel | 2019 |
Dinesh Karthik
Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik is a well-known name among Indian cricket fans. Much like many other cricketers, Karthik also began his journey at the youth level. He was Team India’s second top scorer in the U19 Asia Cup 2003, which Team India won. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 119 runs in three innings. He later made his debut for the India senior team in 2004.
Irfan Pathan
The left-arm Indian pacer Irfan Pathan mesmerised everyone with his clinical swing bowling. But it actually began in the U19 Asia Cup 2003, where he was part of the winning Indian team and the tournament’s top wicket-taker by a country mile, with 18 wickets in four matches. He later made his India debut in the same year, taking close to 300 wickets in all formats for Team India.
Sanju Samson
The Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson is one of the most fan-favourite cricketers right now in India. He was part of the Indian U19 team for the U19 Asia Cup not once, but twice, in 2012 and 2013. His performance in the 2012 edition was mediocre, scoring only 23 runs, but significantly improved in 2013, where he was the victorious Indian team’s third top scorer with 217 runs in four innings.
He made his India debut in 2015 but didn’t get many chances due to a settled line-up and was mostly overlooked. He is still active and in the scheme of things for Team India.
Kuldeep Yadav
Another hero of the India U19’s victorious campaign in the U19 Asia Cup 2013 was Kuldeep Yadav’s mystery bowling that the opposition batters failed to read completely throughout the tournament. He was India’s top wicket-taker in that tournament with 15 scalps to his name in 5 matches.
The chinaman spin bowler worked hard in the domestic circuit and in the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and eventually made his India debut in 2017 in all three formats. As of 2025, he has taken over 350 wickets in all three formats for Team India.
Prithvi Shaw
The India U19 team in the U19 Asia Cup in 2016 was stacked with talent all over. One of them was Prithvi Shaw. Shaw, from Mumbai, was one of the best young talents in the country at that time. He delivered for the Boys in Blue as he scored 191 runs in 5 matches at a strike rate of 107.90 in the 2016 U19 Asia Cup.
He went on to lead the India U19 team to victory in the U19 World Cup in 2018 and made his debut for the Indian senior team the same year, scoring a century in his debut game. He was earmarked as the next Sachin Tendulkar, but due to fitness and off-field behaviour, Shaw is currently out of favour with the Indian team.
Shubman Gill
Another top talent who was part of the India U19 team in the U19 Asia Cup 2016 squad was the current Indian team Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill. In fact, he was Team India and the tournament’s second top scorer with 252 runs in 5 matches, behind his India teammate Himanshu Rana.
Just like Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill was also part of the India U19’s 2018 U19 World Cup winning squad as the vice-captain of the team. He later made his India debut in 2019 and as of 2025 is the India ODI and Test team captain after Rohit Sharma’s retirement.
Abhishek Sharma
Punjab’s left-hand opening batter for Team India, Abhishek Sharma was also part of the India U19 team in the same squad as Shaw and Gill, but he featured in the tournament twice, in 2016 and 2017. In the 2016 edition, he was the fourth top scorer for the India U19 team, scoring 154 runs in 5 matches, mostly playing down the order as an all-rounder and also contributing with 8 wickets. However, the 2017 tournament didn’t go well for him as he scored only 50 runs and took just 2 wickets.
He worked hard in the domestic circuit and after a stupendous IPL 2024 campaign, he got an opportunity to play for the India T20I team as an opener. Since then, he has played over 30 matches and scored over 1000 runs at a strike rate of 188.5, currently ranking as the number 1 T20I batter in the world.
Riyan Parag
Assamese batsman Riyan Parag was one of the members of the India U19 squad for the 2017 U19 Asia Cup, in which unfortunately India failed to even qualify for the semi-finals. Much like many of the players in the team, Parag didn’t get many opportunities and scored 44 runs in 2 innings.
Cut to 2025, he has been the best player for Assam and has been a part of the Rajasthan Royals for a long time. His performance in the IPL 2024 led to his debut in the Indian team in white-ball format but he is still yet to establish his place in the team.
Arshdeep Singh
The Indian left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh is forming a great partnership with Jasprit Bumrah for Team India. However, he didn’t have a great campaign when he was picked for the India U19 team for the 2017 U19 Asia Cup. This was the same year that Team India failed to reach the semi-finals. Like many other players from this squad, Arshdeep Singh also had a mediocre tournament. The left-arm pacer featured in 2 games for the India U19 team in this tournament and picked only 2 wickets.
Despite the underwhelming performance in the tournament, he was brilliant for the Punjab state team as well as for the Punjab Kings in the IPL, which eventually led to his India debut in 2022. As of 2025, he has played 69 T20Is and 14 ODIs, taking 107 and 22 wickets respectively, making him the highest wicket-taker for India in international T20Is.
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Mumbai’s left-hand batter Yashasvi Jaiswal was one of the best batters in his batch of the India U19 team. There was quite the hype surrounding the youngster as he led the charge in the 2018 U19 Asia Cup for India U19, scoring 318 runs in 4 innings.
His performance at youth level, including being Team India’s best player in the U19 World Cup in 2020, earned him an IPL contract in 2020 with the Rajasthan Royals. He struggled initially but has not looked back since 2022. He has now played in all three formats for Team India and is touted as the next big superstar of the Indian cricket team.
Tilak Varma
Left-hand middle-order batter Tilak Varma was one of the talented players in the India U19 squad for the U19 Asia Cup 2019, in which Team India eventually beat Bangladesh in the final. Tilak was one of the important players of this team, where his responsibility was to ensure there was no batting order collapse. He did this really well, scoring 113 runs in 3 innings, averaging 37.66.
Just like the India U19 team, Tilak Varma has played an important role in the Indian team’s middle order. He made his debut in 2023 and played in both white-ball formats. He has especially excelled in T20Is where he has scored over 1000 runs, averaging more than 45.
Dhruv Jurel
The Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel was the India U19 team’s captain for the U19 Asia Cup 2019. However, the captain didn’t really have a good campaign as he scored only 55 runs in 4 matches.
But the talent eventually prevailed as after strong performances at domestic level and in the IPL, Dhruv Jurel made his India debut in 2024 and is still at a young stage of his career where he is looking to establish himself in the team.