Muristek
Coolidge (Antigua), Feb 3
Captain Yash Dhull gave a glimpse of his talent with a well-paced hundred to guide India to their fourth consecutive U-19 World Cup final with an emphatic 96-run win over Australia.
Dhull struck a sublime 110 in as many balls and shared a 204-run stand with his deputy Shaik Rasheed (94 off 108 balls) to fire India to a formidable 290/5 after opting to bat on Wednesday.
The Indian bowlers then performed their roles to perfection to bowl Australia out for 194 in 41.5 overs. Lachlan Shaw's fine 51 came too late in the day for Australia.
Pacers Rajvardhan Hangargekar (0/26) and Ravi Kumar (2/37) were impressive in the first powerplay before spinners Nishant Sindhu (2/25), Vicky Ostwal (3/42) and Kaushal Tambe (1/32) dominated the opposition in the middle overs.
Record four-time champions India face England in the final on Saturday and will be aiming to extend their dominance in the competition.
Comeback
India, the most successful team in tournament's history, were hit by Covid-19 at the start of the competition, losing the likes of Dhull and Rasheed for two games but the depth in the squad ensured that they sailed to the knockout stage.
Chasing a stiff target, Australia lost their in-form opener Teague Wyllie cheaply when Ravi Kumar trapped him LBW with his first legitimate ball, a late inswinger into the right-hander.
Campbell Kellaway (30) and Corey Miller (38) forged a fluent 68-run stand before both perished in six balls, leaving Australia at 73/3. Left-arm spinner Ostwal took a return catch for his second wicket to make it 119/6 in 30 overs, shutting the door on the opposition.
Dhull was impressive with his captaincy too, introducing part-time offie Raghuvanshi ahead of the left-arm spinners, and Raghuvanshi got the breakthrough by trapping Miller.
Impressive Dhull
Earlier, India opted to put runs on the board after winning the toss, knowing it wasn't the easiest of pitches to bat on.
Australian pacers bowled well in the opening powerplay. Indian openers Angkrish Raghuvanshi (6 off 30) and Harnoor Singh (16 off 30) were overly cautious, and the Australians built up pressure. William Salzmann then bowled Raghuvanshi with a beauty that straightened after pitching. Harnoor tried to pull a rising ball on leg stump from Tobia Snell, only to glove it to the wicketkeeper, leaving India at 37/2 in the 13th over.
India's two best batters, Dhull and Rasheed, then got together to lift the team out of trouble. Playing only their third game of the tournament after both missed two due to Covid-19, Rasheed and Dhull showed maturity beyond their years to build the innings.
Dhull got a lot of runs square and behind the square, being very effective with deft late-cuts off the spinners. Rasheed, whose first boundary was an aerial straight drive, ended up with eight fours and a six. The straight six he hit late in his innings off Jack Nisbet took him into the 90s.
The pitch was on the slower side but Dhull rotated the strike with ease before accelerating to pick boundaries at will, collecting 10 fours and a six in total. He got to three figures with a two in the 45th over and pulled Tom Whitney for a six the very next ball. Rasheed missed a deserved hundred when he was caught at backward point off Nisbet.
Australia were sloppy in the field through the innings. Rasheed was dropped on 24 and Dhull on 74 got a reprieve after a run out chance.
With two set batters falling off successive balls, the flow was slightly disrupted before Nishant Sindhu (12 not out off 10), Dinesh Bana (20 not out off 4 balls) and Rajvardhan Hangargekar (13 off 10) came up with the big shots. The 50th over, bowled by Tom Whitney, went for 27 runs. —