Image Credit- ICC
India’s captain, Uday Saharan, said that the team’s
defeat in the Under-19 World Cup final was primarily due to a few careless
shots by the batters and their incapacity to stay at the crease for any length
of time.
Australia chose to bat first and amassed 253 for 8
from their 50 overs thanks to a half-century from Harjas Singh and a helpful
cameo from Oliver Peake. India’s bid to break the record failed right away,
since this was the greatest total ever recorded in a U-19 World Cup final.
“It was fine. We played a few shots and couldn’t
spend some time on the surface,” Saharan said after India went down by 79
runs to hand Australia their fourth title. “We were prepared for it but we
couldn’t execute well. That is where we went wrong.”
In the chase, they lost the first man, Arshin
Kulkarni, in the third over. Then, in the 20th over, Mahli Beardman tore
through the middle order, bringing India to 68 for 4. Although lower-order
batsman Murugan Abhishek (42) and opener Adarsh Singh (47) displayed grit, the
Australians never let the Indians to recover in the chase.
Saharan expressed his pride with his team’s
performance throughout the event, even as India entered the final with an
impeccable record.
“It was great, I am very proud of the boys, they
played very well. The entire team, from the start to the end showed fighting
spirit. They played very well and I am proud of them,” Saharan said.
“There have been a lot of learnings, right from
the start to now,” he said. “I have learnt a lot from the staff and
even during the match, have learnt so much. I just want to take all the
learnings from this tournament and move forward in my career.”