Remorseless Australia derail champions India in U19 final

A remorseless Australia crushed world champions India by 79 runs in the ICC U19 World Cup final at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Sunday. This is their fourth junior World Cup win.

The trophy cabinet Down Under is now heaving. This was the first U19 World Cup triumph for the Aussies since 2010, to go with their senior ODI World Cup win against the same opponents last year, not to mention the women’s World Cup and the World Test Championship.

Australia won the toss and batted first, scoring a challenging 253 for seven. If India were to win, it would have to be the highest total ever chased in an U19 World Cup final. But the Indians were hardly in the chase, their innings subsiding to 174 all out in 43.5 overs.

The Australian fast-bowling quartet – picked especially for this match – were remorseless in their disciplines. Led by the faster pair of Callum Vidler and player of the match Mahli Beardman and well supported by Charlie Anderson and Tom Straker, their accuracy for such young cricketers was remarkable, offering the Indian batters very little to hit. The Indians were therefore unable to build any real momentum and lost wickets at regular intervals. And when the pace bowlers took a breather, offspinner Raf MacMillan snuck in to steal three wickets himself.

The two key dismissals for the Australians were the prize scalps of India captain Uday Saharan (8) and dasher Sachin Dhas (9). The former was well caught at backward point by Hugh Weibgan driving loosely at Beardman while Dhas edged a push outside the off-stump to wicketkeeper Ryan Hicks off MacMillan.

Opener Adarsh Singh attempted to provide the innings with backbone and succeeded in batting 77 balls for his 47 before gloving a hook off Beardman to the keeper. India refused to give up and Murugan Abhishek played with spirit and skill in the latter overs to strike 42 in 46 balls, including five fours and a six before he perished bravely attempting a big hit.

Beardman had the most eye-catching analysis, claiming 3-15 in seven overs, while Vidler took 2-35 in his 10 overs. MacMillan, with 3-43 off 10, chipped in superbly.

Australia bravely batted first in cloudy conditions and opener Sam Konstas quickly went, bowled through the gate by India’s best bowler, paceman Raj Limbani who went on the take 3-38 in his 10 overs.

Australia, however, were steadied by a sterling second-wicket partnership of 78 in 109 balls for the second wicket from Harry Dixon (42) and skipper Weibgen (48) and then a further 66 in 68 balls for the fourth wicket from Harjas Singh (55 in 64 balls) and Ryan Hicks.

They were then indebted to a smart 46 not out from Ollie Peake at the back end of the innings to take them to their final total.

Throughout the innings, the Australians batted calmly and sensibly, ensuring that their innings went the distance.

Dixon was initially the more aggressive of the two batters, taking 15 off Naman Tiwari’s opening over, but he then settled down to play the supporting role to his captain whose timing and fluency were impressive.

The pair had taken the total to 94 – the highest partnership against India in this tournament – when Tiwari came back to claim Weibgen’s wicket, caught at backward point driving. Dixon went soon after, foxed by a slower ball from Tiwari that he lobbed to cover.

Singh, who had had a poor tournament to this point, averaging just eight, began cautiously but a straight drive for six off Priyanshu Moliya seemed to settle him and he went on to strike two further sixes and three fours in a fine 55 in 64 balls before he was leg before to left-arm spinner Saumy Pandey, India’s highest wicket-taker in the competition with 18 scalps.

Australia needed the left-handed Peake to bat through the remainder of the innings and this he did with coolness and skill striking two fours and a six in his 43-ball innings. Peake drove the last ball of the innings for four over extra cover to enable Australia to break through the 250 mark and set India a challenging victory target that was to prove a bridge too far for the champions.

INDIA: Adarsh Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (c), Priyanshu Moliya, Sachin Dhas, Aravelly Avanish (wk), Murugan Abhishek, Naman Tiwari, Raj Limbani, Saumy Pandey.

AUSTRALIA: Harry Dixon, Sam Konstas, Hugh Weibgen (c), Harjas Singh, Ryan Hicks (wk), Oliver Peake, Charlie Anderson, Raf MacMillan, Tom Straker, Mahli Beardman, Callum Vidler.