India And Australia Battle For U-19 World Cup

As their senior team get tested by the Afghanistan cricket team, the the Australian U-19 side start as firm favourites in their World Cup finals clash against the Indians. Come 26 August, the Australians would be looking to do justice to their no.1 seed billing. The home side have been unbeaten throughout 2012 and are a team on a roll having beaten England and South Africa.

On the other hand their opponents have had a rollercoaster of a World Cup. Their batting has been letting them down regularly. They fared poorly against the West indies, were in trouble against Papua New Guinea and managed to dodge a bullet against the Pakistanis with a 1 run win. Even the Kiwis gave them a run for their money, much they managed to hold on and come out on top. The Indian top order of Unmukt Chand, Baba Aparajith and Vijay Zol will have to come good once again if their side has to create an upset. Akshdeep Nath and Vihari have been in disappointing form throughout. On the other hand the Indians have been very well served by their bowlers. Sandeep Sharma manages to get good inswing to trouble top order batsmen everytime, while Passi and Ravikant have been amongst the wickets. Harmeet Singh though looks like a young Bishen Bedi as he teases the batsmen with loop and spin.

The Australian captain William Bosisto is the man to go for his side. Having been dismissed only once in five matches he has been scoring a lot of runs. Patterson and Bancroft too were amongst the runs against the South Africans are would be looking to build on those scores.

The match promises to be an exciting one. How the Australian batsmen fare against the Indian bowlers would be the crucial factor.