India vs Australia Live Score, Final U19 World Cup 2024: IND crumble in summit clash as AUS seal fourth ICC title

Adarsh Singh (47) and Murugan Abhishek (42) played fighting knocks for India although their batting heroics only lifted the defending champions to 174 in 43.5 overs. Australia’s Mahli Beardman and Raf MacMilllan shared six wickets while Callum Vidler bagged two dismissals in the final. With the 79-run win over India, Australia have secured its fourth U-19 World Cup crown.

Earlier, India kept a check on Australia for much of the innings but the latter recovered to set a score of 253/7 in their 50 overs. Oliver Peake finished unbeaten on a score of 46 off 43 to provide the late impetus while Harjas Singh, who came into the match with a previous highest score of just 17 in the tournament, smacked 55 in 64 balls. Pacer Raj Limbani recorded figures of 3/38 in his 10 overs while Naman Tiwari took two wickets for 63 runs. Spinners Saumy Pandey and Musheer Khan took a wicket each. India will have to break the record for the highest succesfull run chase in U19 World Cup finals if they are to win a record-extending sixth title.

Limbani dismissed opener Sam Konstas in his second over and thus gave India an early breakthrough after Australia captain Hugh Weibgen won the toss and chose to bat first. Weibgen then put up a steady stand with opener Harry Dixon that brought up 78 runs for the second wicket. Tiwari then came in and dismissed both batters in consecutive overs and India wrestled back control. Harjas Singh then came in and broke out of the poor form that has plagued him throughout the tournament with some big hits off the spinners in particular. He scored most of the runs in a 66-run stand with Ryan Hicks off just 68 balls for the fourth wicket before Limbani returned and sent back the latter for 20 off 25.

Both India and Australia have got to the final on the backs of two extraordinarily close semi-final victories. While India beat South Africa by two wickets with seven balls to spare, Australia were pushed to the brink by Pakistan and won by one wicket with five balls to spare.

The pace bowling department however, is where Australia look scarier. Their ‘monster-truck’ Tom Straker, coming off 6/24 against Pakistan in the semis – the best bowling figures in an U19 World Cup knockout game has issued a warning to India, and his fellow pacer Callum Vidler isn’t far behind with 12 wickets each. Mark Beardman has made oppositions struggle with his bounce and movement, while off-spinner Raf MacMillan has been another handy customer, racing through his overs with a huge bag of tricks.

Then again, the Boys in Blue have a weapon of their own, and he goes by the name of Saumy Pandey. If Straker’s 6-wicket-haul propelled him to the top 5 in the list of leading wicket-takers, Pandey is two runs above him at 3 with 17 wickets. He is being tipped as the next Ravindra Jadeja in the making, and call it coincidence or whatever you want, Jaddu was India’s joint-highest wicket-taker in the 2008 Under 19 World Cup.

During the second semi-final between Australia and Pakistan, India captain Saharan was in attendance with some of his teammates, following the action from the boundary. When MacMillan dismissed one of the Pakistan batters out LBW, he was seen discussing the off-spinner’s action. Strategies are being studied hawkishly and truth be told, anything less won’t even suffice. After all, it’s a World Cup final, which holds the power to elevate boys into all-time greats.