Australia U19 captain Cooper Connolly walks off the field as Indian players celebrate behind him during the U19 World Cup semifinal in Antigua on Wednesday.
Highlights
- India reached the final of U19 World Cup final for the fourth consecutive edition
- Australia went from 71/1 from 125/7 in space of 14 overs as Ostwal, Ravi and Nishant shone with ball
- Lachlan Shaw (51) scored a consolatory half-century for the losing side
India thrashed Australia by 96 runs at the ongoing 2022 U19 World Cup in Antigua to reach their fourth consecutive final at the level late on Wednesday night. Indian skipper Yash Dhull (110) led from the front with a century and was well backed by his deputy Shaik Rasheed, who scored 94, to put a huge 290 runs on the board.
Australia were bundled out for 194 while chasing the huge total as Lachlan Shaw (51 scored a consolatory half-century for his side. Vicky Ostwal (3/42), Ravi Kumar and Nishant Sindhu (two wickets each) shone with the ball for the winning side.
India will now face England in the final on Saturday in North Stand.
Chasing 291, Australia were handed an early blow as Indian pacer Ravi caught in-form opener Teague Wylie plumb lbw for just with a late inswinger from round the wicket. The other opener Campbell Kellaway (30) made an attempt for the chase with newly-in Corey Miller by adding 69 runs for the second wicket. However, the persistency of line and length from the Indian pacers never allowed the two batters to increase the run rate. The innings fell apart soon with the introduction of Indian left-arm orthodox spinners — in Ostwal, Sindhu, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (1 wicket) — who left Australia reeling at 125/7 by taking six wickets for the next 54 runs.
Shaw then added runs down the order with Jack Sinfield (20) and Tom Whitney (19) and took Australia close to 200 in the lost cause.
Earlier in the first innings, Dhull was able to complete a fine century but Rasheed (94 off 108) fell short of the mark by 6 runs as he added 204 runs for the third wicket to pile up a score that might well be beyond Australia’s reach .
He also became the third Indian captain to hit a hundred in the tournament history after illustrious Virat Kohli and the prodigious Unmukt Chand, also hailing from Delhi.
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 and the fact that Indian openers Angkrish Raghuvanshi (6 off 30) and Harnoor Singh (16 off 30) were also overtly defensive, helped them build pressure.
William Salzmann rocked Raghuvanshi’s off-stump with a beauty that straightened after pitching.
Harnoor, who has not met the high expectations he set for himself, tried to pull a rising ball on leg stump from Tobia Snell only to glove it back to the wicketkeeper, leaving India at 37 for two in the 13th over.
India’s two best batters, Dhull and Rasheed, then got together to lift the team out of a spot of bother.
Playing only their third game of the tournament after missing two due to COVID, Rasheed and Dhull showed maturity beyond their age to build the innings.
Dhull got a lot of runs square and behind the square with deft late-cuts off spinners being one of his pet shots.
Rasheed, whose first boundary was an aerial straight drive, ended up eight fours and a six.
The straight six he hit late in his innings off Jack Nisbet took him into the 90s.
His punch shot through the cover off Salzmann was the most attractive shot he played.
The highly rated Dhul played another sublime knock.
The pitch was on the slower side but he rotated the strike at 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 the next ball was a pull shot off Tom Whitney for the second six of the innings.
After Dhull’s departure, Rasheed could not get to a deserving hundred after being caught at backward point off Nisbet.
Australia were sloppy in the field through the innings. Rasheed was dropped on 24 and missed an easy run-out chance of Dhull who was batting on 74.
With two set batters gone in quick succession, the flow of the innings was slightly disrupted before Nishant Sindhu (12 not out off 10), Dinesh Bana (20 not out off 4 balls) and Rajvardhan Hangagekar (13 off 10) came up with the big shots in the death overs.
The last over from pacer Tom Whitney yielded as many as 27 runs including three sixes and two fours.
(With inputs from PTI)
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