India won a record-extending fifth ICC U-19 World Cup title on Saturday, defeating England by four wickets in the final at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Chasing a target of 190 runs, India reached 195 for six in 47.4 overs. Lauding India’s victory, National Cricket Academy chief VVS Laxman called it a “special” win and also noted how the young cricketers faced adversaries like Covid-19. Speaking after the victory, Laxman said, “Firstly huge congratulations to the selection committee. It was a new selection committee and quite challenging for them to identify this group. After that, the coaching staff with Hrishikesh as the head coach, Sai Raj, Munish, and all the support staff, the way they got this group together, they worked really hard, won the Asia Cup and the preparation for this World Cup was fantastic.”
“But in the middle of this tournament, we all know what happened to the boys. To test positive (for Covid) but show the kind of resilience and positive attitude was exemplary. I think the BCCI has to be complemented. The number of matches and tournaments each age group level gets to play, whether U16, U19 or U23… unfortunately due to Covid they didn’t get to play any tournaments and that’s why I think this tournament win is very special.”
“It’s important but this is just a learning process and just the start of their journey. Everyone in this group understands that. This is about development as players and as a person and it’s great to see how they’ve developed and evolved over the last couple of months but this is just the start of their journey as a cricketer”, he further added.
Nishant Sindhu was in brilliant batting form for India and smashed an unbeaten match-winning knock of 50 runs off 54 balls. Meanwhile, Shaik Rasheed was also pivotal with his batting, registering 50 off 84 balls.
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Initially, England were bowled out for 189 in 44.5 overs and had a major batting collapse. James Rew gave his side a fighting chance with 95-run knock off 116 balls but wasn’t supported well by his other teammates.
Raj Bawa was in fantastic form for India’s bowling department and took a five-wicket haul. Ravi Kumar also registered four dismissals and Kaushal Tambe bagged one.
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