Emerging Players to Watch Under 21: Men Part 1

Sundeep Jora
Nepal
Right-hand batsman
18

For all of Nepal’s troubles in keeping a continuity of form in the senior side, the talent that comes through the youth development ranks is enviable, even outside the Associate world. Sundeep Jora, hailing from the far-west of the country, is another phenom off the conveyor belt.

Almost in front of a home crowd in Dubai, Jora became the youngest male player to score a T20I fifty, against UAE back in January 2019. Wristy and possessing quick hands after lunging forward, Jora can manipulate the field and is able to hit inside out. A good runner between wickets, it’s Jora’s busy play that will churn the runs out, especially with the field spread.

Sandeep Lamichhane
Nepal
Leg-spinner
19

What hasn’t been said about Sandeep Lamichhane already? Plucked from the nets at fourteen, a hat-trick at the U19 World Cup at sixteen, to the glitz of franchise league cricket across the world at eighteen. It’s crazy to think the kid from Chitwan is still in his short of his 20th birthday.

Life has been a soap opera already for Sandeep, with relationship rumours, pop songs and motorbikes mixed in with four-over spells across the world. Growing up in the public eye has come with the territory.

Though for all of the headlines, Sandeep has backed it up for everyone he has played for to this point.

An archetype of the modern-day, limited-overs leg-spinner, Sandeep races in and bowls up towards the 90kph mark. His well-disguised wrong’un is a key weapon in his arsenal to beat both edges of the bats, and of his 105 T20 wickets to date, 71 are across his franchise stints in his two years on the circuit. On the international front, Sandeep takes a wicket almost every two overs in T20 cricket, and averages well under 20 in his early ODI career.

Oman may have had his measure in their CWCL2 tussles, though there is little doubt Sandeep is the present and future of the Nepal bowling attack. Now though, the key will be his patience. No longer is Sandeep the unknown, plucky spinner unknown to the best. There’s enough data and video to counter him in both domestic and international cricket. To further evolve, he needs to adapt, and formulate new plans to continue the meteoric rise.

Tom Mackintosh
Scotland
Right-hand batsman
Wicketkeeper
16

Mackintosh may not have had an Under 19 World Cup to write home about, but it was his role in their qualification as a 15-year-old that spelled his talent out. 331 runs across five innings, with a century against Ireland, plus scores of 91 and 79 against the Netherlands and Jersey respectively. Scotland went on to go undefeated in a competitive field of qualifying.

On the books at Durham, Mackintosh loads up in his trigger movement, almost throwing himself into the ball through his array of shots. His attacking prowess was highlighted again in preparation for the World Cup, making 166 of the first 250 runs scored by Scotland in a successful chase of 318 against UAE U19s in Dubai. The kicker? He didn’t even open the batting, coming in at 29-1.

Young enough to go around again in the U19 cycle, and under the watchful of a County Cricket Club system close to home, Mackintosh has a high ceiling.

Part two of out ‘Players to watch under 21′ special is now live here!

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