Young guns bring home Under-19 WC

India clinched the U-19 Cricket World Cup title for the fifth time after beating England by four wickets in the summit clash, riding on a sensational all-round show from Chandigarh boy Raj Angad Bawa on Saturday.
Bawa shone with the ball with a sensational fiver (5/31) to help India shot England out for 189 before hitting a valuable 35 down the order to help India chase down the target of 190 with 2.2 overs to spare. Earlier, England opted to bat after winning the toss but they were shot out by India for 189 in 44.5 overs with pacer Bawa (5/31 in 9.5 overs) and Ravi Kumar (4/34 from 9 overs) sharing the spoils.
Their latest triumph, in the West Indies, holds special significance and offers plenty of hope to Indian cricket at a time when the senior team is in the throes of a transition. “It was an outstanding achievement by the boys. Hats off to them for winning two major tournaments - the Under-19 Asia Cup (In UAE) and then the World Cup in span of a month. Considering that we had hardly two-three months’ time to prepare, it’s a great achievement,” India Under-19 chief selector Sridharan Sharath said. The way this bunch conquered an outbreak of Covid-19 - six players were infected at one point in the league stage, forcing India to barely find 11 fit players for the games against Ireland and Uganda - is an inspiring tale in itself. Sharath gave credit for keeping the boys motivated in this low phase to batting legend VVS Laxman, who was in the Caribbean in his capacity as the National Cricket Academy head, and the team’s coaches - head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar and bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule, both former India players.
“Credit to VVS Laxman. His presence itself was a tremendous thing. It gives a huge confidence to the boys. You can’t substitute such kind of an experience. The coaches and team management must be given a lot of credit, too. Collectively, everybody worked well,” summed up Sharath.
The heartening aspect of India’s performance was that the team appeared strong in all facets of the game. The batting was led by skipper Yash Dhull and his deputy Shaik Rasheed. If Dhull slammed a superb 82 in the opener and then 110 in the semis against Australia, Rasheed slammed half-centuries in the semis and the final. Keeping calm under pressure, Nishant Sindhu took India home with a fabulous, unbeaten half-century in the final.