Heavyweights India and Australia will face off in a blockbuster Super League semi-final of the Under-19 World Cup on Wednesday, defeating their opponents on the field and COVID-19 in the final four stage.
With hardly any national camps or tournaments in the past two years barring the recent Asia Cup, India’s preparations for the age-group showpiece were heavily affected by the virus.
Read also: India’s road to fourth consecutive U19 WC Cup semi-final
The four-time champions started the tournament on the right track after beating a decent South African team by 45 runs but soon got into a situation where they could not play a game after several players were found to have contracted COVID-19 hours. Struggling to field XI. Before his match against Ireland.
Five members of the squad were unavailable for their second group clash against Ireland on 19 January following a COVID outbreak.
Captain Yash Dhul, his deputy Sheikh Rashid, Aaradhya Yadav, Manav Parekh and Siddharth Yadav were part of that group and both Ireland and Uganda missed out on matches, forcing the BCCI to fly in reinforcements.
India did not have many players for their match against Uganda and had to call in six reserves to play alongside non-infected members of their squad.
But a spirited India took all those challenges and beat Ireland and Uganda well to beat Bangladesh by five wickets to win the quarter-final match on a surface that was not conducive to stroke play.
India are now back in full force and in another good news, Nishant Sindhu has recovered from COVID-19 and will be available for selection for the all-important semi-final.
But if the match against Bangladesh was any indication, India would be looking to improve on their finishing with the bat.
However, earlier, despite missing several first XI players, India made huge totals against Ireland (307/5) and Uganda (405/) and registered their biggest-run wins against an African team.
Now up against a formidable Australian side, India will take confidence from the fact that they made it to the semi-finals with consistent victories despite the challenges posed by the virus.
This is the fourth time in a row that India will participate in the last-four stage of the competition.
India have a strong presence of batsmen like Harnoor Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Raj Bawa, who scored an unbeaten 162 against Uganda in the Under-19 World Cup, breaking Shikhar Dhawan’s record for the highest individual score by an Indian batsman. Responsibility apart from Captain Dhul and Rashid.
In fact, it was Dhul who set the tone for the team with 82 runs against South Africa in their first match of the tournament.
The bowling department is looked after by left-arm pacer Ravi Kumar, who wreaked havoc in a five-over spell to help Bangladesh struggle at 14/3, apart from right-arm seamer Rajvardhan Hangargekar, spinner Vicky Ostwal and Kaushal Tambe. Medium pacer Bawa.
As far as Australia is concerned, the two-time champions’ performance will be high after their win over Pakistan in the quarter.
Australia have a superstar in the form of opener Teague Wylie.
The 17-year-old, so far, has been one of the stars of the World Cup, showcasing his impressive shots and an aggressive yet controlling nature. And the Western Australian youngster has no shortage of confidence, making him an all-round package with every chance of making it to the international game.
Wyllie was at his best against Pakistan, helping his team get off to a scintillating start as he smashed eight boundaries in an impressive 71 off 97 balls India would be wary of.
Tom Whitney (2/31) and William Salzman (3/37) were excellent with the ball against Pakistan, and there were hardly any obvious weak links for India to exploit.
India defeated Australia in the practice match.
Maybe XI
India: Yash Dhul (Captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harnoor Singh, Raj Bawa, Kaushal Tambe, Dinesh Bana, Nishant Sindhu, Vicky Ostwal, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Vasu Vats and Ravi Kumar.
Australia: Cooper Connolly (Captain), Campbell Kelaway, Teague Wylie, Aidan Cahill, Corey Miller, Jack Seinfeld, Tobias Snell, William Salzman, Jack Nisbet, Lachlan Shaw, Tom Whitney.
The match will start at 6.30 pm Indian time.
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