On Saturday, USA U19 will begin their defense of the regional title at Param Veers Sports Club as they seek to clinch an ICC U19 Men's World Cup berth for the second consecutive time. 

File photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
The 2025 ICC Americas Men's U19 World Cup Qualifier is set to get underway on Saturday at Param Veers Sports Complex in Rydal, Georgia as the hosts attempt to repeat as regional champions following their dramatic title win at King City in the summer of 2023. The qualifier comes on the heels of USA’s impressive run at the 2025 Cricket West Indies U19 Men’s Rising Stars Championship where USA’s top squad entered into the event went undefeated through seven group stage matches before falling to Barbados in the tournament final despite having beaten them earlier in the tournament. 
 
Following USA’s 7-1 showing in the West Indies Regional U19 tournament, USA enter the ICC double round-robin event as favorites behind the exploits of allrounder Utkarsh Srivastava, the lone player in the USA squad to have already made a senior team debut. Srivastava, who was USA’s standout player at the 2024 ICC U19 World Cup in South Africa, has since made both a T20I and ODI debut for USA with the 18-year-old having made 67 on ODI debut against Scotland at Grand Prairie on Halloween in 2024. 
 
Srivastava followed it up by ending as USA’s second-highest scorer at the recent West Indies U19 Rising Stars event with a best of 124 in the round-robin stage in a win over eventual champions Barbados. Srivastava also scored two half-centuries on his way to scoring 289 runs at an average of 48.16. The allrounder also claimed nine wickets bowling his offspin at an average of 16.89 and an economy rate of 3.38 across 45 overs. 
 
USA’s leading scorer in the event was opener Sahil Garg, who scored 111 in a win over Trinidad & Tobago and finished with 300 runs at an average of 50.00. Also a the top of the order was Amrinder Singh Gill, who posted four half-centuries in seven innings to finish with 287 runs at an average of 47.83. 
 
With the ball, USA was led by Sabrish Prasad who claimed 12 wickets across the tournament at an average of 11.75 including a best of 5 for 14 in USA’s round-robin win over Barbados. Prasad also had an impressive economy rate of 3.08 across 45.5 overs. 
 
USA also had a second squad entered into the West Indies U19 event, which finished in last place after losing every completed match – one contest against Windward Islands ended with no result after rain stopped play in the first innings. The only player from USA’s second squad added to the ICC qualifier squad was allrounder Adit Kappa. Overlooked was captain Amogh Arepally, who was USA’s wicketkeeper on their qualifying journey to the 2024 ICC U19 World Cup.  
 
Texas wicketkeeper-batter Arjun Mahesh, who was a key player in USA’s successful performance at the regional qualifier in Canada in 2023 before being the last man cut from the group that went to the U19 World Cup in South Africa five months later, will captain the USA U19 squad in Georgia after serving in the same role for the primary USA squad that finished runner-up in the West Indies U19 regional tournament. The only other player with USA U19 World Cup experience in the group headed to Georgia is New Jersey pace bowler Arya Garg, who excelled at the 2024 U19 World Cup in South Africa with eight wickets in four matches though he claimed just two wickets at the recent tournament in the West Indies. 
 
USA begins their U19 Regional title defense against Canada on Saturday August 9 with a scheduled start time of 10:30 am in Georgia. The winner of the double round-robin tournament will claim the region's only berth for the 2026 ICC Men's U19 World Cup to be co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia. The Americas representative will join the 12 Test nations as well as fellow Associate squads Japan, Tanzania and Scotland. 
 
2025 USA U19 World Cup Qualifier Squad: Arjun Mahesh (captain), Shiv Shani (vice-captain), Sahir Bhatia, Arya Garg, Sahil Garg, Amrinder Singh Gill, Adnit Jhamb, Adit Kappa, Advait Krishna, Supransh Kumar, Sabrish Prasad, Ansh Rai, Saharsh Shwethan, Nitish Sudini, Utkarsh Srivastava.