USA will be heading to the ICC Men's U19 World Cup for the fourth time in their history, and second appearance in a row, after clinching the ICC Americas Men's U19 tournament title with one match to spare following Friday's win over Argentina. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Rydal, Georgia (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
USA’s vaunted spin unit had yet another member take center stage on Friday morning as New York legspinner Sahir Bhatia claimed figures of 5 for 9 to help bowl out Argentina for 34 in 15.5 overs before the home side’s chase was done and dusted in just 6.1 overs as USA U19 recorded a nine-wicket win to clinch the tournament title at the 2025 ICC Americas Men’s U19 World Cup Qualifier at Param Veers Sports Complex and with it a spot in the 2026 ICC Men’s U19 World Cup to be held in Zimbabwe and Namibia. USA will join the 12 Test nations along with fellow Associate Qualifiers Scotland, Japan and Tanzania in the 16-team event. 
 
Bhatia’s 4.5 over spell followed up on the new-ball damage done by Supransh Kumar, who took 4 for 10 in five overs of medium pace. Vice-captain Shiv Shani took the other wicket to fall as USA followed up a 71-minute win over Argentina on Tuesday with a victory that took a total of 108 minutes on Friday. 
 
“Obviously a great feeling,” said USA U19 captain Arjun Mahesh after the win that secured an U19 World Cup berth. “It’s very exciting times for us. We’ve had good preparation before this tournament. We’ve had a tournament in South Africa and we had a tournament in St. Kitts. So we’ve worked really hard in this cycle to prepare our boys for this moment and finally we’ve achieved it. So it’s going to be exciting for us to prepare well for the upcoming World Cup and we hope to showcase our talent there.

“Getting to the World Cup is just one aspect of it but once we get there we have to make sure that we perform well and pull out some standout performances. Performing at the U19 World Cup can lead to many openings across the world including many of the franchise leagues that happen, obviously starting with the MLC. MLC is growing huge and the U19 World Cup, performing there can definitely lead to more opportunities across the world including CPL, Major League and hopefully even IPL sometime soon. So I think as a group we’re just looking forward to giving our best and performing to our capabilities in the World Cup and the rest will take care of itself.”
 
Taking zero chances on any possible weather interruptions, USA won the toss and chose to bowl first. Bhatia was one of three changes made to the USA lineup following their win over Bermuda on Wednesday as Amrinder Singh Gill also returned to the lineup while Ritvik Appidi made his first appearance for USA in the tournament as Adit Kappa, Nitish Sudini and Sahil Garg were all rested. 
 
After a chance was missed in the slips during his first over which wound up going to the third man rope for a boundary, Kumar struck in the third over when Otto Sorondo chopped a length ball onto his stumps for 1 to make it 9 for 1. Kumar then produced a double-wicket maiden in the fifth, getting Tobias Zimmermann to fend a simple return catch for 5 before Argentina U19 captain Valentin Bur skied a drive off his third ball to Sabrish Prasad at mid-off making it 15 for 3. Another wicket maiden came from Kumar in the seventh as he ended Luciano Lopresti’s seven-ball stay with a skied drive to mid-off that was taken by Ansh Rai to make it 15 for 4 after seven. 
 
Though it initially looked like Kumar would take USA’s first five-wicket haul of the tournament after his early burst, it wound up being Bhatia who would do the honors and he began his haul in the 10^th over when Alvaro Minardi dragged a drive off an inside edge onto his stumps for a five-ball duck to make it 20 for 5. Bhatia struck again in the 12^th during a wicket maiden when a short ball was pulled straight back toward the legspinner, who leaped high to intercept it above his head for an athletic catch that ended opener Juan Moline’s innings for 13 off 35 balls making it 21 for 6. 
 
The left-arm pace of Shiv Shani accounted for the seventh wicket to fall as Muhammad Abaidullah was through his pull shot too early on a slower cutter sent down by Shani that clipped the bails for 2 to make it 23 for 7 in the 13^th. 
 
Franz Bur drove Bhatia over mid-off for only Argentina’s second four of the innings in the 14^th, but by the end of the over Bhatia had two more wickets as Bur walked too fair across his stumps playing across the line to be given lbw for 4. Jose Bautista was bowled first ball by a quicker fuller delivery to end the 14^th at 31 for 9 as Bhatia had to wait and see if he would even get an opportunity to bowl a hat-trick ball to start the 16^th. After left-arm spinner Ansh Rai conceded one run in the 15^th, Bhatia got his chance not only for a hat-trick but a five-wicket haul and nearly had both in one delivery against Juan Martin but a bottom edged cut off a length ball went just past the stumps and wicketkeeper captain Arjun Mahesh to fine leg for a single. After another single from last man Juan Mosquera put Martin back on strike, Bhatia bowled him for 6 with a length delivery that clipped the top of the stumps to end the innings before noon. 
 
Aside from Bhatia and Kumar’s spells, Shani returned 1 for 5 in two overs while Rai ended with the solitary over and figures of 0 for 1. 
 
Gill walked out to open with Saharsh Shwethan and the pair added 20 for the first wicket before Shwethan yanked a short ball from Abaidullah’s medium pace to Martin at backward square leg in the ring. The fielder juggled the chance initially before holding onto a catch on the second attempt while lying with his back on the ground as Shwethan fell for 10. Utkarsh Srivastava was dropped in the following over on 0 after feathering an edge behind off the medium pace of Franz Bur. But that was the last opportunity Argentina had. Gill muscled a four and six over the leg side against Martin in the sixth over to take USA one shot away from victory. Gill then flicked the winning two runs over mid-on off the first ball of the seventh to send USA back to the Men’s U19 World Cup. Gill finished 21 not out off 20 balls while Srivastava was not out without scoring.
 
It was a far cry from the scene when USA clinched an U19 World Cup berth two summers ago in King City, Ontario. On that occasion, it happened on a bitterly cold day against border rival Canada on a tense final day of the tournament in which it was unclear if a match would even be played following a lengthy delay due to a wet outfield from on and off rain throughout the morning. After restricting Canada to 92 for 9 in a 22-over contest, USA chased the target in 17.2 overs on a bitterly cold day to spark raucous celebrations. Instead of wild roars piercing the cold of King City in fading light past 7 pm on the final day of the tournament against their arch rivals, the celebrations were muted in Georgia on a hot afternoon on the penultimate day of the tournament as USA easily beat a team that they haven’t lost to in the U19 Qualifier since 2001. 
 
In the day’s other match, Canada was able to prevail by 13 runs over Bermuda on Duckworth/Lewis Method in spite of a lackluster performance playing most of the day with the knowledge that they no longer had an opportunity to reach the U19 World Cup. After Bermuda won the toss and sent Canada in to bat first, Canada was bowled out for 147 in 39.5 overs in an innings that included three runouts. With the threat of rain looming later in the afternoon, Bermuda were marginally ahead on DLS calculations before Luke Horan fell for 36 in the 31^st over followed four balls later by the runout of Keegan Jones. Bermuda went from 79 for 4 to 80 for 6. When rain stopped play in the 35^th over, Bermuda were 94 for 6 and the DLS target sat at 108. 
 
The final day of the tournament is scheduled to have USA take on Canada for a chance to finish the tournament undefeated while Bermuda plays Argentina.