Australia claim 4th ICC U-19title with 79-run win over IND

Team India suffered multiple setbacks in their record run-chase against Australia in the final of the U-19 World Cup at Willowmoore Park on Sunday. Musheer Khan (22), Arshin Kulkarni (3), captain Uday Saharan (8) and superstar Sachin Dhas (9) failed to make an impact as Australian pacers guided Hugh Weibgen and Co. to World Cup glory in South Africa.

Opener Adarsh Singh (47) and lower-order batter Murugan Abhishek (42) played fighting knocks for Team India although their batting heroics only lifted the defending champions to 174 in 43.5 overs. Australia’s Mahli Beardman and Raf MacMilllan shared six wickets while Callum Vidler bagged two dismissals in the final. With the 79-run win over India, Australia secured its fourth U-19 World Cup crown.

Earlier, India kept a check on Australia for much of the innings but the latter recovered to set a score of 253/7 in their 50 overs. Oliver Peake finished unbeaten on a score of 46 off 43 to provide the late impetus while Harjas Singh, who came into the match with a previous highest score of just 17 in the tournament, smacked 55 in 64 balls. Pacer Raj Limbani recorded figures of 3/38 in his 10 overs while Naman Tiwari took two wickets for 63 runs. Spinners Saumy Pandey and Musheer Khan took a wicket each.

Limbani dismissed opener Sam Konstas in his second over and thus gave India an early breakthrough after Australia captain Hugh Weibgen won the toss and chose to bat first. Weibgen then put up a steady stand with opener Harry Dixon that brought up 78 runs for the second wicket. Tiwari then came in and dismissed both batters in consecutive overs and India wrestled back control. Harjas Singh then came in and broke out of the poor form that plagued him throughout the tournament with some big hits off the spinners in particular. He scored most of the runs in a 66-run stand with Ryan Hicks off just 68 balls for the fourth wicket before Limbani returned and sent back the latter for 20 off 25.

Both India and Australia got into the final on the backs of two extraordinarily close semi-final victories. While India beat South Africa by two wickets with seven balls to spare, Australia were pushed to the brink by Pakistan and won by one wicket with five balls to spare.

Before losing to Australia in the final, Uday Saharan’s team had a comfortable run in the U19 World Cup as the defending champions stayed unbeaten in the tournament. The ‘Boys in Blues’ mostly chose to bat first in the tournament, slowly scoring initially and then starting to smash in the death overs. In the semi-final match, they faced South Africa where they decided to field first and faced a difficult challenge with their top-order falling in front of the Proteas bowling attack.

Newly-crowned champions Australia clinched a thrilling 1-wicket win against Pakistan in the semi-final. The Weibgen-led Aussies needed four runs in the last over and Pakistan failed to defend the target. The U-19 final brought back memories of November 19 last year – the final of the 2023 World Cup final, also played between India and Australia. On the biggest night of the tournament, Indian dreams were dashed by Australia, who won the contest by 6 wickets to lift the World Cup for a record fourth time.