India seal fifth U19 World Cup after tense final win
Bawa, Kumar restrict opponents before Rasheed and Sindhu hit fifties to help India beat fighting England
MUMBAI: India’s dominance in U-19 World Cups is unrivalled. They added another trophy to their cabinet, another silverware to reaffirm the strength of India’s age-group programmes in beating England by four wickets in a tense final in Antigua on Saturday. It was in the wee hours of Sunday at home that India recorded their fifth win in their ninth tournament final in 14 editions. England, who had last made it to a final back in 1998— they won—simply did not have enough runs to test India’s batting depth in the end.
This victory calls for special mention, coming against odds, overcoming health hurdles, playing two of their group matches with only 11 and 12 fit players, and also losing captain Yash Dhull for some matches during the tournament to Covid.
Chasing 190, India’s win did not come without hiccups, offering their opponents an opening when they lost the set Shaik Rasheed on 50 and Dhull (17) in quick succession at 97/4. But it was a day Raj Bawa could do little wrong, following up on his 5-wicket haul with a composed 35. After he was dismissed in the 43rd over, Nishant Sindhu with an unbeaten 50 saw them home in the company of Dinesh Bana, who struck the winning six over long-on with 14 balls to spare.
Both India and England had reached the final unbeaten. But after the first hour’s play, England’s docile batting and India’s brilliance with the ball was indicative of a chasm between the two sides. Batting first, England were reduced to 47/5 in 13 overs, all spoils accounted for by India’s seam bowlers. But rearguard action from England thanks to a 93-run eighth wicket stand helped them post a fighting target.
It was left-armer Ravi Kumar, running in against the breeze, who quickly found his length. He got one to swing in and hold its line in the second over to square up southpaw Jacob Bethell (2), trapping him leg before. In his next over, Kumar struck again as England’s skipper and their tournament top-scorer Tom Prest (0) dragged one on to the stumps after a failed pull stroke.
Those early wickets didn’t deter opener George Thomas from adopting an aggressive approach. He counter-attacked and hit several boundaries on both sides of the wicket. When he tonked a Hangargekar short ball over mid-wicket, echoes of the bat-ball connect broke through the rhythmic bands at the Sir Viv Richards stadium at North Sound.
Thomas’s adventurous stay, frequently walking down the wicket to the quicks, was short lived. Skipper Yash Dhull brough in Raj Bawa first change in the seventh over and it was the allrounder who swung the innings in India’s favour.
Runs dried up with England managing only seven in four overs. That was all it took for Bawa to coerce Thomas (27 4x4, 1x6) into playing an acrossthe-line swipe, Dhull accepting the catch at mid-off. In the 13th over, Bawa got two in two balls. William Luxton first edged a cut shot to the wicket-keeper. Bawa then bowled a snorter and forced right-handed George Bell to glove to the ‘keeper. It became difficult to take the ball off Bawa’s hand as he soon got Rehan Ahmed also to edge behind the wicket by bowling a disciplined line outside off. It reduced England to 61/6.
From a position of utter domination, India finally found English resistance in the form of No 4 bat James Rew. With James Sales offering him support, Rew began growing in confidence. He narrowly missed his hundred, holing out to deep square boundary on 95, and England folded up soon after.