The India U-19 cricket team have dominated the men's World Cup over the years with four titles, and are one win away from yet another. The Yash Dhull-led side, coached by VVS Laxman, stormed into India's fourth consecutive final and eighth overall when they defeated Australia, whom they have not lost to since 1998 in the tournament. India is the only team to have qualified for four consecutive finals at the tournament.
Up next is England, and India have had the wood over their opponents, winning five of the seven contests between the two teams. They first met in 1988 and 2022 is the first time when India and England will face each other in a final.
While India hopes to continue to dominate this tournament, England have a small bit of history as a source of inspiration. If England win the U-19 World Cup, they will hold the ODI titles in the Men's, Women's, and U19 events.
But it hasn’t been an easy ride for India, who have fought off COVID-19 during the tournament. Despite the multiple cases of the virus, India dominated the group stage, as the reserve players stepped up with aplomb.
Rarely have India seemed troubled in the World Cup so far and the players are seemingly gung-ho about the final. The last batch of U-19 cricketers was defeated by Bangladesh, and the current lot will undoubtedly not want to end up on the wrong side of the result at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North-South, Antigua.
The Indian team come into the final on the back of an unbeaten run which started off against a tough South Africa. After this, they swatted away Ireland with ease before being hit by COVD-19. Five Indian players, including captain Yash Dhull, were in isolation before the game against Uganda, and the team had a tough time putting together a playing XI. The BCCI, meanwhile, was hurrying across backup players, but they’d need to go through quarantine before taking the field.
But the Indian team dug deep, and despite not having their talismanic skipper in the line-up, they turned on the style against Uganda as records tumbled. Raj Bawa played a record-breaking inning of 162 runs. He broke Shikhar Dhawan's record for the highest individual score by an Indian batter at the U-19 World Cup.
Once through the group stages with a cent-percent record, India rolled over defending champions Bangladesh with utmost ease in the quarter-final, before Australia were put away with panache.
The Indian team have seen some fantastic performances from the players, with the likes of Raj Bawa, Vicky Ostwal, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi leading the way. While Raghuvanshi has been in fine form with the bat, Ostwal’s left-arm spin has left plenty bamboozled, and Bawa has contributed significantly with both bat and ball.
In more recent games, after recovering from COVID, Yash Dhull scored a century and Shaik Rasheed scored an impressive 94, as India flexed their batting muscle. With the ball, Ostwal has picked 12 wickets so far in 5 games, while the likes of Ravi Kumar and Rajvardhan Hangargekar have both chipped in with six wickets each.
While India come across as a force to reckon with, England have reached the U-19 World Cup final after a wait of 24 years. England too come into the final on the back of an unbeaten run in the tournament and will hope to continue the momentum on the big day.
Like India, the English have also been dominant in this tournament and made their intentions clear from the get-go when they defeated Bangladesh. The England batting is also led by their skipper, who has been in brilliant form and is the top scorer in the team. Tom Prest scored a hundred and a half-century and will hope to keep the good form going. However, apart from Jacob Bethell (203 runs in 5 games), there’s not been much to write home about with the bat.
Meanwhile, with the ball, left-arm pacer Joshua Boyden is England's highest wicket-taker with 13 wickets and the standout performer has been wrist-spinner Rehan Ahmed. He has impressed with his skill and art, and has played a crucial role for England in giving them important breakthroughs in the middle-overs. Ahmed has so far picked up 12 wickets in just three matches and will be key in the final as well.
Both sides topped their groups on the way to the final and both have had an unbeaten run. On Saturday, history is within the grasp of either side. Will India continue to dominate the tournament or can England surprise the world?
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