India and Australia met in the finals of the ICC U19 World Cup in 2018. The two teams have previously won the title three times each and India had defeated Australia in their opening match of the tournament as well.
Australia won the toss at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui and chose to bat first.
Jonathan Merlo proved to be their best batsmen with 76 runs in 102 balls. P Uppal gave him adequate support with 34 and opener J Edwards made 28. Other than that, the Australian batting never seemed comfortable against the Indian bowling.
Australia folded up for 216, as Ishan Porel (2/30), Shiva Singh (2/36), Nagarkoti (2/41) and Anukul Roy (2/32) performed brilliantly with the ball for India.
The Indian opening pair of Shaw and Kalra started off cautiously. But after initial hiccups, both Shaw and Kalra managed to strike a few boundaries. However, Sutherland clean bowled Shaw for 29 and Gill joined Kalra, who was dominating the Aussie bowling. Gill added 70 runs with Kalra before getting out for 31, as Uppal bowled him.
Manjot Kalra however proved to be the best batsman for the Indian team as he hit a sublime century to guide India to the win. Harvik Desai stemmed the fall of wickets for India by building yet another half century partnership and kept Kalra company to take India over the finishing line.
India defeated Australia for the second time in the tournament and for the second time in the finals to win their 4th U19 World Cup title. It was a great encore of the 2012 final and Kalra’s 101* will go into the annals of junior international cricket as one of the best innings in finals.
BRIEF SCORES:
AUS U19 216 (J MERLO 76, P UPPAL 28; I POREL 2/30) lost to IND U19 220/2 (M KALRA 101*; H DESAI 47*) by 8 wickets
INDIA WINS THE ICC U19 WORLD CUP 2018
