India win U-19 World Cup for 4th Time

The 2018 edition of the ICC U19 World Cup came to a fitting end with the India U19 lifting the title.

As many as five Indians made it to U-19 World Cup team announced by the International Cricket Council on Sunday.

The Indian team defeated Austraila by 8 wickets in the ICC Under 19 World final on Saturday afternoon to win the World Cup trophy. Harvik Desai ended the match in style with a boundary.

South Africa’s Raynard Van Tonder has been named as the captain of the side which involves players from four other countries – India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Fellow opener Manjot Kalra scored a match winning ton as ‘keeper Desai remained not out and hit the winning four to spark the celebrations.

It was about as comprehensive a victory as you will ever see in a World Cup final.

Kalra remained not out on 101 off just 102 balls, studded with three gigantic sixes and eight fours, including scorching off drives on the up.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Working President of the main opposition National Conference (NC) Omar Abdullah congratulated the Under-19 Indian cricket team for winning the World Cup by defeating Australia in the final on Saturday.

Australia chose to go for the batting first after they won the toss and gave the target of 216 to India.

“One of the things about me coaching this team is that it’s a bit embarrassing at times”.

Australia, who were earlier beaten by 100 runs by India in group game, managed to muster a paltry total of 216 before being bowled out in 47.2 overs in their allotted 50 overs.

Both the Teams have won the title three times in the past so whoever win it this year, will certainly set their record superior.

After a brief spell, where he kept quiet, Manjot again started to get on top of the bowlers – starting with a towering six of the bowling off Lloyd Pope in the 29th over. Middle-order batsman Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma fail to score some big runs for her team. While Gill could only muster 31 runs in the final, his efforts to get the team into the championship match cannot be discounted for.

Roy also claimed the key wicket of Jonathan Merlo (76), who did brilliant job of rebuilding the innings with Param Uppal (34) after Australia were 3-59 in the 12th over.