Australia overwhelms India to win the Under-19 World Cup

Australia defeated India by 76 runs to win the ICC Under-19 World Cup. India was supposed to chase 254 to retain the championship, but they were bowled out for 174. Mahli Beardman was awarded player of the match after scoring 3-15 from seven overs, while Adarsh Singh led India with 47. Australia’s final score of 253-7 was the greatest in Under-19 World Cup history.

Harjas Singh struck 55 to lead Australia’s attack, while Harry Dixon (42), Hugh Weibgen (48), and Oliver Peake (46 not out) also performed admirably with the bat. Raj Limbani was India’s top bowler, with 3-33. Australia has won its fourth U-19 World Cup, trailing only India’s record-breaking five triumphs.

On a muggy, cloudy morning, Weibgen (48 off 66 balls) and aggressive left-handed starter Harry Dixon (42 off 56) offered an excellent launchpad. When the much-touted Harjas Singh, who had relocated to Sydney from India with his family as a child, hammered a half-century laced with three sixes, he put a disappointing tournament behind him.

When India gained vital wickets and threatened to bowl out Australia, 17-year-old Ollie Peake, son of former Victoria star Clinton Peake, who was himself a young, triple-century-scoring wonder, delivered a gem of a finisher’s effort, hammering an unbeaten 46 off 43 balls.

Pacer Callum Vidler began Australia’s winning march by packing off Indian opener Arshin Kulkarni, drawing an edge from stumper Ryan Hicks. From then, India just struggled to form any meaningful partnerships, as frontline hitters such as captain Saharan (8), Musheer Khan (who was given a reprieve on zero), and Sachin Dhas (9) left without making any significant contributions.

Beardman got through Musheer’s (22) defence with a low delivery, while the pacer tempted Saharan, the tournament’s leading run-getter, with a little wide delivery on off-stump, but his stroke was caught by Hugh Weibgen at point. Beardman later dismissed opener Adarsh Singh, India’s highest scorer on the day with a 77-ball 47, to bulldoze the Indian batting line-up with speed and bounce.

Both India and Australia advanced to the final after winning two extremely tight semi-final matches. India defeated South Africa by two wickets with seven balls to spare, while Pakistan pushed Australia to the edge before winning by one wicket with five balls to spare.

Before losing to Australia in the final, Uday Saharan’s squad enjoyed a pleasant run in the U19 World Cup, with the reigning champions being unblemished. The ‘Boys in Blues’ generally elected to bat first in the event, scoring slowly at first before exploding in the death overs. In the semi-final encounter against South Africa, they opted to field first and had a difficult struggle with their top-order tumbling in front of the Proteas bowling assault.

Mahli Beardman, Player of the Match: “It’s pretty surreal, hasn’t fully set in yet. But it’s something we’ve been working towards for a long, long time so the hard work has paid off. They’ve been incredible and we knew it was going to be a good battle. For me I just wanted to use my short balls and hit the top of off. I’ve been thinking about my bowling, my field settings. Just trying to work on the mental side of the ball. He’s been incredible. Pleasure to bowl alongside him and the rest of the cartel. He was incredible and England and crazy here as well. Hopefully the Big Bash and play for my state.”

Kwena Maphaka, Player of the Tournament: “Really means a lot. I’ve put in a lot of work for this and I am really happy that I could come out and have a good tournament. Unfortunately couldn’t take my team to the final, but happy I could play well. Definitely worked on my inswinger a lot. We were just really talking about inswingers, outswingers, things like that to work on for the future. Super eager. It’s going to be an amazing thing but there’s lot of hard work to do.”

Indian captain, Uday Saharan: “It was a very good tournament. I am very proud of the boys, they all played very well. They all showed great fighting spirit from the start, very proud of them. We played a few rash shots, couldn’t spend more time at the crease. We had prepared, but couldn’t execute. Got to learn a lot from the start to now. From the coaching staff to the games, learned a lot. Now we just need to keep learning more and move ahead.”

Australia U19 253-7 (50.0 overs): H Singh 55; Limbani 3-38
India U19 174 all out (43.5 overs): A Singh 47; Beardman 3-15

Australia won by 79 runs.