India Win ICC U-19 World Cup for Record Fifth Time

India colts win ICC U-19 World Cup for the record fifth time as they defeat England boys in the final played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua on Saturday.

Following their win, congratulatory wishes and accolades keep flowing for the team. At the same time, BCCI has announced reward of Rs 40 lacs per player and Rs 25 lacs per support staff of the U-19 team contingent. BCCI secretary Jay Shah informed about the rewards through a tweet.

When wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Bana hit consecutive sixes to take his team past England’s score of 189 in the 48th over to seal a convincing victory, India extended its record run in U-19 cricket. Some spectacular batting from the middle order that include vice-captain Shaik Rasheed (50 off 84), Nishant Sindhu (50 not out off 54) and Raj Bawa (35 off 54) and handy contribution from captain Yash Dhull (17 off 32) and opener Harnoor Singh (21 off 46) helped India overcome England’s spirited defense of their total.

Earlier in the morning, England captain Tom Prest won the toss and decided to bat first. However, Indian pacer Ravi Kumar and all-rounder Raj Bawa hurt them hard with regular wickets and rattled the English batting line up. They were struggling at 91 for 7 in 25 overs when James Rew (95 off 116) and James Sales (34 off 65) stitched a 93 run partnership to give their bowlers something to defend. The English team were folded for 189 in 45th over. Ravi scalped 4 wickets for 34 runs while Raj bagged a fifer (5/31). Only one wicket went to spinner Kaushal Tambe.

India’s chase started on a scary note as opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi fell in the second ball of the innings for zero. But other batters applied themselves and took the score forward. Raj Bawa was declared player of the match for his match-winning all-round performance.

With this victory, India won U-19 World Cup for fifth time in eight final appearances. Earlier, India had won the U-19 World Cup in 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2018. England had won U-19 World Cup in 1998, when it restarted after the first edition in 1988. It took 24 years for England to enter the final.