India Wins U-19 ICC Cricket World Cup 2018: Prithvi Shaw-Led Indian Team Defeats Australia in Final; Lifts WC Trophy for a Record Fourth Time

The Under-19 ICC Cricket World Cup came to an exhilarating end on February 3, as India won the tournament final, beating Australia comprehensively. Riding high on Manjot Kalra’s century the Indian side warded off every threat posed by the Australian quicks. Contributions from Prithvi Shaw, Shubham Gill, and Harvik Desai proved quite significant as the top-order batsmen didn't let any amount of pressure affect the team's chances. India beat Australia by 8 wickets at Tauranga Oval, New Zealand in an exciting contest, in which the Boys in Blue had the upper hand, throughout.

Shubman Gill is adjudged as the Player of the Tournament for his consistent performances. Gill said that their team was fortunate enough to have a Coach in Rahul Dravid. He always guided us to express ourselves and play along the ground. Gill further added that he was proud of his team and the journey has been pretty exciting. I hope I'll do well in the IPL as well.

Manjot Kalra wins the Man of the Match award for his unbeaten innings of 101* runs. Kalra said that it has been a great team environment and he has enjoyed a lot. Talking about the conditions, he said that the playing conditions, here, were quite good. It was not a difficult wicket, rather a flat one and was good to bat on.

Chasing a modest target of 217 runs, openers Prithvi Shaw and Manjot Kalra provided India with a steady start before rain interrupted play India had 23 runs on the scoreboard without a loss of a single wicket. The openers came back with a bang and counter-attacked on the Aussies, diminishing any chances of their comeback. After the break, there was a bit of chirping around as the Australian bowlers tried to provoke Indian batsmen with unnecessary sledging. India raced to 71 runs in only 11 overs, before Prithvi Shaw was clean bowled by Will Sutherland for 29 runs. There was a stupendous display of batting in the middle with both Kalra and Shaw hitting crisp and crunch drives on both sides of the wicket.

Shubham Gill entered next, the Man of the moment, got along with Manjot Kalra and stitched an important partnership of 60 runs, before falling to Param Uppal. It was for the first time that Gill got out under 50 runs in the tournament, as he returned to the pavilion for 31 runs. It was upto India's untested middle-order to see India home. Wicket-keeper batsman Harvik Desai then joined Kalra in the middle and the duo saw that there were no hiccups in the chase and India would be the record fourth-time World Cup winner.

Earlier in the day, Australia won the toss and their captain Jason Sangha had decided to bat first. The Aussie openers provided a composed start but it was Ishan Porel who drew first blood in the contest. Australia kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Jonathan Merlo held one end and toiled hard in his well-fought innings. At one point in time, the Aussies were looking to score over 250 runs, but then it was the brilliance of Indian bowlers to pull it back. Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ishan Porel, Anukul Roy, and Shiva Singh bagged two wickets each (at crucial junctures), whereas Shivam Mavi could manage only a wicket.

The Indian Colts made sure that Australia wasn't allowed to dominate the match at any period of time. The match wasn't let slip-away as the pressure on Aussies by the Boys in Blue was constant throughout. As a result, Australia suffered a major batting collapse in the end and folded out on 216 runs.

India ended their Under-19 ICC World Cup campaign on an unbeaten note. Prithvi Shaw now joins the elite list of Indian captains - Mohammad Kaif (2004), Virat Kohli (2008), and Unmukt Chand (2012) - who made India proud in yesteryears. Indian head-coach Rahul Dravid would be a proud man today. The legendary cricketer, who shot down an IPL contract only to nurture the young Indian side, would surely be smiling today as the Indian Cricket team bore fruits of their hard work. Stay tuned for all the updates on ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2018.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 03, 2018 01:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).