USA U19 left-arm spinner Adit Kappa's dismissal of Canada U19 captain Yuvraj Samra for 35 sparked a rapid collapse of 6 for 16 as Canada went from 77 for 4 to 93 all out, setting up a lopsided win for USA to clinch an undefeated tournament title. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Rydal, Georgia (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
After a long slow wait for the match to begin on Saturday, USA U19 brought about a quick demise to Canada’s lineup once play eventually got underway as the hosts bowled out their border rivals for 93 before chasing the target in 24.1 overs to clinch a seven-wicket win and with it an undefeated 6-0 record as champions of the 2025 ICC Americas Men’s U19 World Cup Qualifier at Param Veers Sports Complex. A Canada side already deflated by the knowledge that they entered the day with no shot of qualifying for next year’s U19 World Cup had their bubble completely burst by USA’s bowling unit after being sent in to bat while USA’s fielders were also clinical in completing a pair of runouts to skittle a mentally frazzled visiting squad. 
 
Despite clear sunshine and 90F temperatures all morning, the match had a 3-hour and 35-minute delay due to a wet outfield due to poor drainage at the facility which meant that rain from the previous day resulted in excessively damp areas near the bowler’s runups. After winning the toss and fielding first with play reduced to 31 overs per side, USA made three changes to their lineup from the previous day’s win over Argentina, resting their leading pace bowler Supransh Kumar along with spinners Ansh Rai and Sabrish Prasad as opener Sahil Garg returned along with middle-order bat Nitish Sudini and left-arm spinner Adit Kappa. It meant that USA had a fresh opening bowling combo in the form of medium pacers Adnit Jhamb and Ritvik Appidi, the latter playing his second match after entering the squad as an injury replacement for Arya Garg. 
 
But both Appidi and Jhamb stepped up to strike with the new ball to put Canada under early pressure. Jhamb struck in the second over, getting big-hitting Aryan Sidhu to miscue a flick to mid-off where Sudini pulled off a sliding catch for 1 to make it 2 for 1. After conceding a big six over midwicket earlier in the fifth over to Dharm Patel, Jhamb struck back two balls later finding the fourth stump channel on a good length to get Patel fending an edge behind for 14 to make it 23 for 2. 
 
Vice-captain Shiv Shani teamed up with captain Arjun Mahesh for a sharp dismissal in the ninth when Jagmandeep Paul shuffled across trying to flick to the leg side and edged behind for 9 with a catch superbly held by Mahesh standing up to the stumps to make it 41 for 3. The first runout of the day then happened three overs later when Shivam Sharma got into a terrible mixup with captain Yuvraj Samra, resulting in Sharma runout for 9. Samra had cut a length ball from Kappa in his first over of the day as Sharma set off from the non-striker’s end. Samra turned down the run as Garg lobbed a gentle relay to Kappa to take off the bails with Sharma several yards short to make it 51 for 4 in the 12^th. 
 
Samra shook off the runout and blasted Jhamb for two sixes in the following over, including one off a free hit, to put Canada back on course for what promised to be a competitive total. But when Jhamb was hit out of the attack, Mahesh went to his spinners for the next 11 overs and Canada rapidly fell apart as the wicket of Samra in the 16^th sparked a quick collapse with Canada losing their last six wickets for 16 runs. Kappa was the catalyst, inducing a miscued drive from Samra to Sahir Bhatia on the long-on boundary for 35 to make it 77 for 5 in the 16^th. 
 
Rohan Sikri hit the last ball of the 17^th over off Utkarsh Srivastava for four to make it 83 for 5, but that would be Canada’s last boundary and they would only score 10 more runs. The bulk of the damage came in the 19^thover when legspinner Bhatia entered the attack and three wickets fell in the space of four balls. He had Krish Misra out for 5 prodding forward to give an edge behind before Toby Cox ran himself out two balls later when he pushed a full ball to extra cover and set off only for Sikri to send him back. Srivastava’s relay was wide of the stumps but there was still enough time for Mahesh to collect and dive to take the bails off. Ayaz Sahibi was then given lbw first ball prodding forward to Bhatia despite an indication of a possible inside edge. Regardless, the maiden over saw Canada go from 86 for 5 to 86 for 8. 
 
Shani returned in the 24^th to end USA’s streak of spin bowling and he ended Danistor Dominic’s resistance with a length ball that was awkwardly chipped back for a simple return catch to make it 93 for 9. Two balls later, Bhatia ended the innings. After entering at No. 6 in the 12^th over, Sikri’s defiance ended for 13 when he top-edged a pull that floated gently into the hands of Shani at short midwicket. 
 
Bhatia was named Player of the Match for the second day in a row after ending with USA’s best figures of the day, 3 for 5 in 3.1 overs. Kappa bowled brilliantly and claimed the prized scalp of Samra to end with 1 for 14 off six overs. Shani returned 2 for 16 with a maiden in four overs of left-arm pace. Appidi and Jhamb finished with 1 for 15 and 1 for 24 respectively in three overs apiece. Srivastava was the only bowler used not to take a wicket, conceding 0 for 17 off five overs. 
 
USA began their chase steadily but patiently, hitting just two fours in the Powerplay. Amrinder Singh Gill started to up the ante in the ninth over, heaving Cox’s medium pace over the leg side for six, but fell three balls later for 22 driving a catch at head height to mid-off to make it 38 for 1. His opening partner Garg fell for 16 in the 13^th over as Paul pulled off the catch of the tournament, diving one-handed to his right at short midwicket to complete a wicket for Misra’s left-arm spin making it 53 for 2. 
 
USA continued to play risk-free cricket, only striking two more boundaries for the rest of the chase. Both came courtesy of Srivastava, who shook off his underwhelming batting form from earlier in the tournament to show some rhythm when he drove Paul’s offspin elegantly over wide mid-off to find the rope in the 18^th. His partnership with Jhamb ended nine runs short of victory when Jhamb drove left-arm spinner Dominic to long-off for 14 to make it 85 for 3. 
 
USA captain Mahesh joined Srivastava and the pair needed just seven more balls to knock off the remaining runs with a series of ones and twos. The winning two came off the bat of Srivastava one ball into the 25^th over with a punch down the ground to take him to 28 not out off 42 balls. Mahesh ended unbeaten on 5 off 4 balls. 
 
In the day’s other match, Bermuda beat Argentina by 78 runs. After posting a total of 144 for 8 in their 31 overs, Bermuda then bowled out Argentina for 66 in 15.5 overs. 
 
At the end of tournament award presentation, USA’s Amrinder Singh Gill claimed the Best Batter Award after finishing the event as the leading scorer with 221 runs in four innings at an average of 73.67. His most impactful performances came on the opening two days of the tournament when he top-scored in wins over Canada and Bermuda with a half-century and century respectively. Bermuda’s Luke Horan took home the award for Best Bowler after leading all sides with 12 wickets. Canada’s Jagmandeep Paul finished as the tournament’s top-ranked player according to the CricClubs mathematical formula after he tied for second overall with 10 wickets and also scored 89 runs.