U19 World Cup Final: Australia break Indian hearts again, end 14-year wait for title triumph

India’s title defence at the U19 World Cup 2024 ended in the summit clash on Sunday in Benoni as Australia broke Indian hearts once again, winning a one-sided final.

India finished runners-up in the prestigious age-group tournament for the fourth time overall and the third time in the last five editions. India’s much-talked-about batting imploded in the big final as star batters, including captain Uday Saharan, Musheer Khan and Sachin Dhas, failed to trouble the scorers much.

Australia, who made the gutsy call of winning the toss and batting first in overcast conditions, posted 253, the highest total in the final of a U19 Men’s World Cup tournament. Fast bowler Mahli Beardman and spinner Raf MacMillan picked up 3 wickets each as India were bundled out for 174 in 43.5 overs, falling well short of what could have been a record run chase.

Australia seem to have the mental edge over India in men’s iCC tournaments in the recent past. Only 2 months back, a Pat Cummins-led side stunned India in the final of the ICC Men’s World Cup in Ahmedabad. On November 19, India’s incredible run came to a heartbreaking halt as Rohit Sharma’s men imploded in the final. Before the World Cup, India lost the ICC World Test Championship final to Australia in June at the Oval in London.

Australia are now the champions of senior men’s 50-over World Cup, the World Test Championship, the women’s T20 World Cup and the senior women’s 50-over World Cup to go with the U19 men’s World Cup.

The story was similar in the U19 World Cup as India, led by Uday Saharan, reached the final unbeaten, having dominated the opposition teams en route. However, the young men succumbed to nerves and some superior all-round effort from Australia.

It was the fourth U19 Men’s World Cup crown for Australia and their first since 2010. It was a well-deserved title triumph for captain Hugh Weibgen as he hit a crucial 48 with the bat and marshalled the troops wonderfully well while defending 253.

BATTING STARS SUCCUMB TO PRESSURE
India had three batters with more than 300 runs with captain Uday Saharan leading the batting charts in U19 World Cup 2024. However, all three of them, including Uday, Musheer Khan and Sachin Dhas, fell cheaply in the final. In fact, Uday, who finished the tournament with 397 runs in 7 matches, was dismissed for a 8, his first single-digit score in the tournament.

On the other hand, Musheer Khan, who had the rub of green going his way after a dropped catch and a close run-out call, fell for 22, failing to make use of the opportunities that came his way. Musheer was out while hanging back to a fuller-length delivery from Mahli Beardman, who turned the game around for Australia.

Sachin Dhas, India’s crisis man who hit a match-winning 96 in the semi-finals against South Africa, was caught behind for 9 in spinner Raf MacMillan’s first delivery of the contest.

Both Beardman and MacMillan kept picking wickets in regular intervals as India never find any sort of momentum in their run-chase. New-ball bowler Callum Vidler gave the early breakthrough, getting the big wicket of highly-rated Arshin Kulkarni after which the young Indian side looked rattled throughout the chase.

Adarsh Singh hung around, struggling to keep the scoreboard moving as the opener kept losing partners at some pace. However, his defiant knock of 47 from 77 balls ended in the 31st over when Mahli Beardman took his 3rd wicket.

Left-handed all-rounder Abhishek Murugan showed some fight, stitching a 46-run stand for the 9th wicket with Naman Tiwari. Murugan played some gutsy shots, putting pressure back on Australia. However, much like Musheer, Murugan failed to make use of extra opportunity as he was caught at point, a delivery after he was dropped.

Murugan’s gutsy knock helped India reduce the margin of defeat as the spirited Australian side never let them off the hook in the big final.