The 2020 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament that was held in South Africa from 17 January to 9 February 2020.[1][2] It was the thirteenth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the second to be held in South Africa after the 1998 event.[3] Sixteen teams took part in the tournament, split into four groups of four.[4] The top two teams from each group advanced to the Super League, with the bottom two teams in each group progressing to the Plate League.[5] India were the defending champions.[6]
In the first Super League semi-final, India beat Pakistan by ten wickets to advance to the final,[7] with Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring an unbeaten century.[8] In the second Super League semi-final, Bangladesh beat New Zealand by six wickets, with Mahmudul Hasan Joy scoring a century.[9] The third-place playoff match between Pakistan and New Zealand was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.[10] Therefore, Pakistan finished in third place, after scoring more points than New Zealand in the group stage of the tournament.[11]
In the final, India batted first and were all out for 177 runs in 47.2 overs. Due to a rain interruption, Bangladesh were set a revised target of 170 runs from 46 overs, per the DLS method, which Bangladesh chased down in 42.1 overs.[12] Bangladesh beat India by three wickets to win the tournament.[13] It was Bangladesh's first championship win in an ICC event at any level.[14]
The top eleven full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the 2018 World Cup qualified automatically for the 2020 tournament; Ireland were the only full member to fail to qualify automatically.[1] They were joined by the winners of the five regional qualification tournaments.[15] Fifty teams took part in the qualification pathway matches during 2018 and 2019.[1] The first qualification matches took place in the Europe Division 2 group at various club cricket grounds in Essex and Hertfordshire, England, on 31 July 2018.[1] The final round of qualification fixtures took place in the Netherlands in July & August 2019.[16]
Nigeria became the first team to win their regional qualification group, and qualified for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup for the first time in their history.[17]Japan also qualified for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup for the first time in their history.[18] Japan were scheduled to play Papua New Guinea in their final qualification fixture, but Papua New Guinea forfeited the match.[19] The Papua New Guinea Cricket Board later suspended ten of the players for a year, after bringing the game into disrepute following a shoplifting incident.[20][21]Canada, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates were the remaining three teams to secure qualification.[22]
