India seal fifth Under-19 World Cup win after clinching tense final

Yash Dhull's team registers four-wicket win against a fighting England in the final at the Viv Richards Stadium in Antigua.

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.

The victorious Indian Under-19 team.  (Getty)

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.

There was good carry for the seamers, but the pitch had no demons. The only thing Indian seamers had to work with was strong breeze and they nominated the quicker Rajvardhan Hangargekar to use it to his advantage. Instead, it was left-armer Ravi Kumar, running in against the breeze, who quickly found his lengths. 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 all-rounder who swung the innings in India’s favour. Bawa’s introduction would have worked almost immediately but Thomas was dropped in the slip region. Dhull went for a double change, introducing Nishant Sindhu’s spin early.

India’s change bowlers dried up the flow of runs with England managing only seven runs in four overs. That was all it took for Bawa to coerce Thomas (27 - 4x4, 1x6) into playing an across-the-line swipe, Dhull accepting the catch at mid-off.

It was his belligerent 162* against Uganda that had shone the spotlight on Bawa going into the final. On Saturday, he outshone the other bowlers with his cross-seam deliveries. 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, stroking impressive high-percentage boundaries against seam and spin. He narrowly missed his hundred, holing out to deep square boundary on 95, and England folded up soon after.

Bawa finished with his first five-wicket haul, while Kumar got four wickets.