India U19 have secured their sixth U19 World Cup title, beating England by 100 runs in the final at the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe. The Ayush Mhatre-led side arrived at the summit clash with an unbeaten record and they played some phenomenal cricket in the middle to get the job done against a well-balanced England side, who defeated Australia in the semi-final.
The day started with a cluster of boundaries from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who stole the show in the middle. The 14-year-old was heavily criticised for his poor showing in clutch matches but against England, he rose to the occasion and played some outrageous cricket in the middle. He made 175 runs off just 80 balls and set the tone for the rest of the batters to come in and keep up with the momentum.
Captain Ayush also played some good cricket, scoring 53 runs off 51 balls. After he departed, the middle order struggled for a while but they managed to keep the scoreboard ticking. Since Sooryavanshi handed the dream a perfect start, the middle order was never put under pressure. Keeper-batter Abhigyan Kundu, who had a sensational World Cup, added 40 runs while Kanishk Chouhan made unbeaten knock of 37 runs off 20 balls to help India post 411 runs on the board.
How did the chase go?
England’s chase didn’t go according to plan. They started with two maiden overs and since then, Ben Dawkins and Ben Mayes tried to bring the young Lions back into the contest, but chasing 412 runs proved to be a daunting task. England captain Thomas Rew, who scored a century against Australia in the semis, made 35 runs. Caleb Falconer, in the meantime, played a charismatic innings, as he scored 115 runs off 67 balls.
The youngster kept the team in the hunt til the end but couldn’t clear the distance. Some support from the other end could have helped England bridge the gap but there was none. Nevertheless, it was a cracking game of cricket where a total of 722 runs were scored.