India Beat Australia To Win The U-19 World Cup

The unbeaten Australia U-19 side finally met their match, and that too in the finals of the World Cup as the lesser fancied Indian side won its third U-19 World Cup title. The Indian side which has made a habit of faring below par through a tournament but picking up momentum towards the business end, produced a clinical performance to win the match with 14 balls and 6 wickets to spare. The match was not without its share of twists and turns though.

Unmukt Chand after winning the toss put the opposition into bat. Sandeep Sharma playing his second World Cup has made a habit of taking a wicket in his first over. He did that once again as he dismissed Peirson off the fourth ball. He followed that up with Bancroft's wicket in his second over. The Australians were reeling at 38/4 in 12 overs but rebuilt mainly through their captain Bosisto who was aided by Head and Turner. The captain remained not out yet as he scored 87 to take his team to 225. Sandeep Sharma was the wrecker-in-chief with four wickets for 54 runs.

In reply, the Indians had a horror start to their innings. Chopra got dismissed in the second over caught down the leg side as the scoreboard read 2/1. Baba Aparajith joined his captain in the middle and unleashed some of the most pleasing cover drives one could hope to see. Chand who initially was happy to give his partner the strike then produced two monster hits himself as the two started eating away at the target at a rapid pace. Aparajith however got dismissed playing the same shot that got him so many runs, getting brilliantly caught attempting the drive. His wicket led to two more dismissals and the Indians slid to 97/4. Chand was joined in the middle by the wicketkeeper Smit Patel, promoted ahead of the out of form Akshdeep Nath. The two of them were watchful for most part of their partnership. That meant the required run rate started climbing up. Chand kept producing boundaries at key moments to keep the task within limits. With 49 needed off 7 overs, Bosisto dropped his counterpart and that opened the flood gates. Chand stamped his class all over the Australians as he kept hitting the bowlers out of the ground at will. The last 51 runs were scored off just 22 deliveries as Patel too got to a much deserved half century in the finals of a World Cup.

When Patel slogged Turner for a four through midwicket the entire Indian team came running onto the ground and tackled the two batsmen onto the floor. The scenes were reminiscent of the senior team's win at Wankhede one year back.