Henil Patel, on January 15 (Thursday), became the first Indian pacer to record a five-wicket haul in his maiden outing in the Under-19 World Cup, after he finished with figures of 5/16 in India’s group A clash with the USA at the Queen’s Sports Club in Zimbabwe.
The feat is also unique in the sense that it was the tournament’s first game, and no Indian had ever recorded a five-wicket haul in the first-ever World Cup for India, let alone in a first-ever game of the entire tournament.
Which Indians have recorded five-wicket hauls in the Under-19 World Cup?
Before Henil, a total of eight Indian bowlers had claimed a five-wicket haul in the junior tournament. However, one of them were able to do it more than once.
The list includes Ravikant Singh, Vicky Ostwal, Raj Angad Bawa, Anukul Roy, Mahipal Lomror, Pradeep Sangwan, Kamal Passi, and Deepak Hooda. But only Mahipal Lomror did it in his first game for the nation. But it was India’s second game of the tournament when he recoded the feat against New Zealand in 2016.
Passi, though, holds the record for the best figures achieved by an Indian in the tournament’s history. He finished with figures of 6/23 against Zimbabwe in 2012.
The Henil Hailstorm At Bulawayo
In the weather forecast, the meteorologists had predicted thunderstorms in Bulawayo. Though that did not happen, Henil made sure that his hailstorm was fully felt by the US batters.
The pacer started on the right footing from his first ever, taking the wicket of Amrinder Gill, arguably, USA’s best batter. He continued with the same vigour and removed Arjun Mahesh and USA skipper Utkarsh Srivastava in the same over, when he was reintroduced into the attack in the 12th over.
Coming for his third spell, Henil made sure that he would bowl no more than an over as he first threatened the US number nine Shabrim Prasad with a bouncer and then cleaned him up and the next batter to follow, Rishabh Shimpi, in back-to-back deliveries.
If not for his over to end and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to pick a wicket in his first over, Henil might have ended up recording the best figures for an Indian ever in U-19 World Cup history.