Townsville, August 26: India frittered away the early advantage, as defending champions Australia recovered from a shaky start to post a competitive 225 for 8 in the final of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup on Sunday.
Electing to field after winning the toss amid overcast conditions, the Indians had the Aussies on the mat at 38 for 4 before host skipper William Bosisto (87 not out) rebuilt the innings with the help of some notable contributions down the order. Sandeep Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for India, grabbing four wickets in his 10 overs that conceded 54 runs and included a couple of maidens.
In conditions that have favoured bowlers all through the tournament, India could not have asked for a better start as Sharma struck in his very first over. He removed both the openers — Cameron Bancroft (2) and Jimmy Peirson (0) — in his first spell itself.
However, Bosisto took charge of the proceedings and gradually steadied the ship sharing a 65-run fifth-wicket stand with Travis Head (37) to start with. But the Indians managed to get back when Harmeet Singh and Baba Aparajith combined to run out Head after a mix-up between the two batsmen.
Head took off for a single from the non-strikers end, but was sent back by Bosisto. Harmeet moved quickly to pick up the ball and threw it to Aparajith, who ran out Head. Head’s 56-ball knock included five fours. The Indians, however, let slip the advantage once again as Bosisto found another able partner in Ashton Turner (43).
Together the duo accelerated the scoring rate and put on 93 runs for the sixth-wicket. Turner was the more aggressive of the two batsmen, sending down three boundaries and a six during his 50-ball knock before becoming Sharma’s third victim of the match. The Aussie score read 196 for six at that stage and it wasn’t long before the Indians managed to send the tail back to the pavilion.
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