Mohammad Kaif and Gautam Gambhir debate re-ignites after U-19 final loss against Australia

India lost another World Cup final against Australia. The Men in Blue lost their third consecutive final against the Kangaroos, this time it is the U-19 World Cup 2024. Since last year the fortune has not been in favour of the Men in Blue of winning the major trophy as they have lost three finals. After the loss on Sunday, former India batter Mohammad Kaif praised the Australian team by saying they were the better team on the field and on paper.

The Aussies overcame their winless streak against India in the U19 title games, as they defended 254 against Men in Blue, winning their first title since 2010 and their fourth overall. After the match, Kaif turned to social media to make a statement that while the result does not matter much at the under-19 level, the rising superstars of Indian cricket can learn a lesson from it, which will help them on their long road.

India have the most titles with 5 at the U-19 level. Uday Saharan's side has played a brilliant brand of cricket. Gautam Gambhir previously did not like that his former teammate spoke about how the best team did not win the World Cup, he believes that it was the most bizarre statement he had heard in his life. 

Gambhir vs Kaif debate reignites

Kaif posted, "At the U-19 level team results don't matter much. Future stars learn lesson that help them in long journey.. Well played India. This time have to say Australia good on pitch, and on paper #U19WorldCup2024." 

After Kaif's comments on ODI World Cup 2023, Gambhir told Sportskeeda, "The team that won the World Cup is the best. If you are going to defend it, saying that India won 10 matches and were out because of just one bad match... Whether you finish No. 1 or No. 4, you have to play the semi-final and the final. Winning 6 league games out of 8 is easy, you have to then win 2 out of 2 in the knockouts. That's the difficult part."