Manjot Kalra’s century helped India cruise to a record fourth U19 World Cup title, beating Australia by eight wickets.
India, who were unbeaten throughout the tournament, pulled off their second-highest successful chase in U19 World Cups, after the 226 to beat Australia in Townsville in 2012.
Manjot Kalra led the way with an unbeaten 101 off 102 balls.
His task was eased by the all-round performance of his bowlers: eight wickets were shared between two pacemen and two left-arm spinners, which restricted Australia to 216 in 47 overs.
Australia were out of the game by the time the first wicket fell, at 71 after just 11 overs, when captain Prithvi Shaw fell for 29.
Shubman Gill (31) added 60 for the second wicket and Harvik Desai’s 47 accompanied Kalra over the line with more than 11 overs remaining.
‘We felt 217 wasn’t a big score, but I didn’t want us to be casual,’ said Shaw. ‘It’s a big match, a World Cup final. I just wanted to remind the team that. I told them to be calm, patient, build partnerships and do the little things that helped us get here.’
Kalra, the Player of the Final, revealed that Rahul Dravid had reminded them that a casual dismissal in the U19 final in 2016 proved to be a turning point.
‘Rishabh Pant walked out of the crease and was stumped. He told us how he didn’t want us to repeat those kinds of mistakes and play with the same seriousness that we have shown all tournament.’
