The Indian U19 team lost to Australia in the Men’s U19 World Cup 2024 Finals by 79 runs on Sunday, February 11 at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. Indian skipper Uday Saharan expressed that he is proud of his team’s performance throughout the tournament despite losing in the finals.
Batting first, Australia managed to score 253 runs on the board. Harjas Singh slammed a fifty in the innings, while Harry Dixon, Hugh Weibgen and Oliver Peake also scored valuable runs. In response, India’s batting unit faltered. They were bowled out for 174 runs, handing Australia a 79-run win. Adarsh Singh and Murugan Abhishek were the only two batters who got to the 40s. Mahli Beardman and Raf MacMillan took three wickets each for Australia. Speaking at the post-match presentation, skipper Uday Saharan admitted that the batters played some rash shots. He said,
“I’m proud of the boys, they played really well. Showed good fighting spirit throughout the tournament. We played a few rash shots today and didn’t spend time in the middle. We were prepared but couldn’t execute the plans. Lots of learnings from this tournament learnt a lot from the support staff and even during the games. We will try to keep learning and getting better.”
It’s pretty surreal: Mahli Beardman
Mahli Beardman pulled off a brilliant performance for Australia as he took three wickets in the final of the U19 World Cup 2024 against India. He conceded runs at an economy rate of just 2.1 and was adjudged the Player of the Match. Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Beardman described it as a ‘surreal’ feeling. He said,
“It’s pretty surreal, it hasn’t fully set in yet. But it’s something we’ve been working towards for a long, long time so the hard work has paid off.”
“They’ve (India) been incredible and we knew it was going to be a good battle. For me, I just wanted to use my short balls and hit the top of off. I’ve been thinking about my bowling and my field settings. Just trying to work on the mental side of the ball,” he added.
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