ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup 2024 is won by Australia

In Benoni, Hugh Weibgen made the appropriate decision and chose to bat first. For Australia, Charlie Anderson replaced Tom Campbell. India had not altered. Australia finished the first innings at 253/7. In the history of the U19 World Cup, this was the greatest total. Top scorer Harjas Singh finished with a total of 55, with significant 40s from Weibgen, Harry Dixon, and Ollie Peak. Raj Limbani scored 3/38 to lead India.

India lost four batsmen in the first twenty overs of their chase, which got off to a disastrous start. Three of their best run scorers in the competition, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan, and Sachin Dhas, were among those removed. Australia continued to grind out runs, taking four more wickets in overs 21–32. Australia's victory seemed inevitable, even with a late push by Abhishek Murugan; they wrapped up the match in the 44th over. For his 3/15, Mahli Beardman was named the Player of the Match.

Player of the Tournament for the U19 Cricket World Cup is Kwena Maphaka

How the Indian chase played out

Arshin Kulkarni's early missed one behind the wicket scared India early in their chase. Then, Adarsh Singh and Musheer Khan moved slowly forward. In the first Powerplay, there were just two fours. After the first ten overs, Musheer started using more daring strokes. He did, however, play for 22 on a Mahli Beardman delivery.

When Beardman got rid of India's captain Uday Saharan for eight runs, he scored another major victory. Weibgen, the hitter's opposite number, was at the backward point as he attempted to push the ball past offside. When Sachin Dhas (8) edged one behind the wickets from Raf MacMillan, it severely damaged India's aspirations.

Aravelly Avanish and Priyanshu Moliya were soon put without contributing much to the total. The writing was on the wall for India when Beardman dismissed Adarsh Singh, who battled with a resolute 47. Despite scoring a fierce 42, Abhishek Murugan's team was unable to capitalize.

How the Australian innings went

With 15 runs off of Naman Tiwari's opening over, Harry Dixon got off to an aggressive start. But in the third over, Raj Limbani got one to swerve in and defended his partner Sam Konstas. India quickly adopted a spin strategy and stopped the first Powerplay's scoring pace.

At the beginning of the middle overs, Dixon and Weibgen were alert against the spinners and skillfully fed runs to keep the scoreboard moving. 42 runs were scored in the overs 11–20, with boundaries starting to appear at the end of that time. In the twenty-first over, Tiwari's return to form paid off as he dismissed Weibgen for 48 runs.

In his next over, the left-armer hit once more, this time defeating Dixon. The southpaw was outmaneuvered by the slower ball and poked it in the direction of Abhishek Murugan.

Then, using a patient position, Harjas Singh and Ryan Hicks rebuilt for Australia. In the 28th over, Harjas, who had only scored 49 runs in the competition thus far, extended his arms to Priyanshu Moliya's spin, smashing a four and a six. After that, he hit a string of boundaries.

Even though Hicks was ultimately caught leg before by Limbani for twenty, Australia was still making good progress. Harjas achieved his first fifty of the U19 World Cup as he crushed a full toss from Tiwari to the ground in the 37th over.

Soon after, Saumy Pandey got back at India by winning Harjas. The batsman was caught plumb leg before after failing to sweep Pandey towards the on-side.

Even as India's bowlers continued to chip away at the score, Ollie Peake's good purpose helped Australia get past 200. In the end, Australia scored 66 off the final ten overs.