The USA U19 World Cup team consists of several players who have represented the senior team. With more than 70 senior T20I matches between them, the USA could prove tricky to the other teams in the group.
They made it to the U19 World Cup as they were the only eligible ICC member in their regional group to meet the qualification criteria for the World Cup.
The team is coming into the tournament after playing in a series against UAE U19 which they won by 3-2. They also played in the West Indies domestic tournament and then took on the West Indies U19 team which they won by 4-1.
They are placed in Group A with Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
USA sQuad: Geetika Kodali (c), Anika Kolan, Aditi Chudasama, Bhumika Bhadriraju, Disha Dhingra, Isani Vaghela, Jivana Aras, Laasya Mullapudi, Pooja Ganesh, Pooja Shah, Ritu Singh, Sai Tanmayi Eyyunni, Snigdha Paul, Suhani Thadani, Taranum Chopra.
Reserves: Chetnaa Prasad, Kasturi Vedantham, Lisa Ramjit, Mitali Patwardhan, Tya Gonsalves.
Geetika Kodali:
Geetika Kodali is obviously the most experienced on the side. The captain recently featured in Fairbreak International and also became the 1st player to pick up a hat-trick in the 6ixty. She certainly holds the key in the USA line-up. She featured in the CPL as well. She made it to the senior team when she was just 14, the 2nd youngest to do so.
Anika Kolan:
Anika Kolan is yet another player who has already debuted in senior cricket. She is into multiple sports, including basketball and soccer. She got into cricket because of her brother. Anika is a wicketkeeper as well. Watch out for her. She is yet to make an impact in senior cricket but is certainly a super-talented top-order batter.
Aditi Chudasama:
Aditi Chudasama is one of the all-rounders from the USA. The New Jersey sensation won the player of the finals and best batter of the tournament award in the recent National Women’s cricket league. Aditi is also one of the main bowlers in the team.
Bhumika Bhadriraju:
Bhumika Bhadriraju has played 7 T20Is and has picked up 8 wickets. The off-spinner’s speed is her main weapon. She is on the slower side but turns it well. She was the leading wicket-taker in the recent series against UAE with 7 wickets. She also bowled 52 dot deliveries.
Disha Dhingra:
Disha Dhingra debuted for the senior team recently. She has played in 8 matches. Disha holds the key in the batting for the U19 team here. The top-order batter ended with 62 runs in the UAE U19 series, but notably, she scored a half-century against Thailand in one of the warm-up matches of ICC World Cup qualifiers. Disha idolizes Smriti Mandhana and got into cricket because of her dad. An open talent hunt organized by Dream Cricket Academy helped her to get into professional cricket.
Isani Vaghela:
Isani Vaghela is yet another all-rounder in the team. She will bat in the middle order and will bowl pace. She was one of the players who participated in the recent 6ixty and CPL. Vaghela also won the player of the match award in USA U19’s thrilling Super Over victory against UAE U19. Isani debuted for the senior side in 2021. Her older brother Vatsal Vaghela plays for USA men’s cricket team.
Jivana Aras
Jivana Aras is one of the new players in the team. She watched cricket for the first time in 2020. Took up the game because of the lockdown and she had not much to do. Her 1st game was the 2020 Women’s World Cup final. Her mother is from South Korea and she was born in the country and moved to the USA when she was young. Her father is from India and used to play in local leagues. He helped her daughter train the game. The pacer has modelled her action by watching old videos of Brett Lee.
Laasya Mullapudi
Laasya Mullapudi got into cricket inspired by her brother. She was 12 when she took up the game. The batter idolizes Smriti Mandhana and made her senior debut in 2021. Laasya ended as the leading run-scorer for USA U19 in the recently concluded UAE U19 series with 92 runs from three games.
Pooja Ganesh
Pooja Ganesh took up the game when she was six and joined the academy when she was 10. She was the only girl in the whole academy. She got into the U19 team when she was 13. Still one of the youngest in the team, Pooja can keep wickets, open the batting and also bowl.
Pooja Shah
Pooja Shah is one of the attacking batters available here. She bats in the lower order and can find boundaries right from ball one. Pooja Shah is still around 15 and is one of the bowling all-rounders to watch out for in this tournament. She is one of the cricketers from Houston.
Ritu Singh
Ritu Singh was six years old when her father introduced her and her brother to the game. At ten, she was playing in senior leagues alongside boys. She then made it to the U19 recently and is around 16 now. Ritu bowls those loopy deliveries which had troubled the batters over the years. She is also pretty handy with the bat and wants to be an all-rounder.
Sai Tanmayi Eyyunni
Sai Tanmayi Eyyunni made her senior debut in 2022 and has three wickets from five games. She is certainly one of the leg spinners to watch out for. She was young when she tried her hand at cricket but her coach wanted her to build up some more strength and come back in months but she didn’t get back to training for more than 2 years. She continued playing gully cricket and got into the U19 team through open trials. Only after getting into the team, she went back to proper coaching. Sai Tanmayi is also an excellent singer and is practising Carnatic music for more than six years now.
Snigdha Paul
Snigdha Paul is a pace bowling all-rounder and will take the new ball here. Paul initially hated even watching cricket on television but when she saw one of the warm-up matches of the 2016 T20 Women’s World Cup from the stadium, she wanted to pick up the game. Unfortunately, when she moved to the USA, she didn’t have access to the game initially and turned to different sports. She finally settled for softball, which is similar to cricket. Later, when the USA began to open doors for cricket, she chose the game and is one of the stars in this line-up.
Suhani Thadani
Suhani Thadan is yet another medium-pace bowling all-rounder. She is a big fan of Pat Cummins. The youngster made her international debut in 2021 and has played in ten T20Is so far. She has picked up 10 wickets at an economy rate of 3.25.
Taranum Chopra
Taranum Chopra is an opening batter and is also handy with the ball. She got into cricket when she was around 13 and is an off-spinner. She didn’t feature in the recent UAE U19 series and is added to the team only now. Chopra has featured in several private leagues including Washington Cricket League. She was a part of the Sistar Mortgage Women’s Nationals winning East Conference team.
