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South Africa pacer Kwena Maphaka was crowned as the U-19 Cricket World Cup Player of the Tournament after the conclusion of the tournament on Sunday.
Maphaka was named the Player of the Tournament ahead of the likes of Saumy Pandey, Musheer Khan, Jewel Andrew, Hugh Weibgen and Uday Saharan, players who had a sensational campaign with their respective teams. Maphaka also ended the tournament as the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 21 wickets in his kitty. His memorable campaign saw him claim 21 wickets at a mere average of 9.71 and with that Maphaka announced himself to the world as a promising talent for the future. After receiving the award, Maphaka said,"Really means a lot. I've put in a lot of work for this and I am really happy that I could come out and have a good tournament. Unfortunately couldn't take my team to the final, but happy I could play well." He came close to equalling the record of most wickets at one edition of the Under 19 World Cup but just fell one short of the mark of 22 wickets which was set by Bangladesh's Enamul Haque jnr (2014). However, Maphaka was able to rewrite history books by claiming the most five-wicket hauls in a single edition of the U-19 World Cup. He bagged 5/38 against the West Indies, 5/34 against Zimbabwe and then 6/21 during South Africa. Before him, only four players had managed to claim two five-wicket hauls in the tournament. Maphaka bagged three and surpassed Sri Lanka's Dunith Wellalage (2022), Afghanistan's Shafiqullah Ghafari (2020), Pakistan duo Anwar Ali (2006) and Riaz Afridi (2004). Maphaka in his first appearance in the tournament in 2022 managed to take seven wickets. His overall tally now reads at 28 which makes him the joint most wickets taker for Zimbabwe in the history of the tournament with 28 scalps. On the other hand, India skipper Uday Saharan ended the tournament as the leading run scorer with 397 runs. New Zealand's Snehith Reddy with a knock of 147* against Nepal ended the U-19 World Cup with the highest score of the tournament. England's Taz Ali registered the best bowling figures of the tournament with 7/29 against Zimbabwe. (ANI)
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