2008 U-19 World Cup was an important milestone in my career, says Kohli

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India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday termed 2008 U-19 World Cup as an important milestone in his career and said it gave us a good platform to build upon.

Kohli had led the Indian side to a U-19 World Cup win in 2008 after defeating South Africa in the final.

"The ICC U19 World Cup was a very important milestone in my career. It helped us get a good platform to build on and make our careers from thereon, so it holds a very important place in my mind and heart. It is very important to understand and respect the opportunity it provides to you," International Cricket Council (ICC) quoted Kohli as saying in a media release.

The 32-year-old Kohli had gone on to score 235 runs in the tournament in 2008 at an average of 47. He went on to pick now New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson as the stand-out performer in that competition.

"I remember playing against Kane Williamson. He was someone who always stood out in the team, his batting ability was very different from the other players who were around," Kohli said.

"It is good to know that so many people from that batch, like Kane and Steve Smith, have played for their respective countries," he added.

This year's U-19 World Cup will start from January 17 and the Indian side would be led by Priyam Garg. India has won the tournament four times till now (2000, 2008, 2012 and 2018).

India U19 WC squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Divyaansh Saxena, Priyam Garg (c), Dhruv Chand Jurel (vc & wk), Shashwat Rawat, Divyansh Joshi, Shubhang Hegde, Ravi Bishnoi, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Atharva Ankolekar, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Sushant Mishra, Vidyadhar Patil.

India has been clubbed with New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Japan in Group A and the side will play their first match against Sri Lanka on January 19.