“We played a few rash shots” – India U-19 captain Uday Saharan after final defeat to Australia

India Under -19 captain Uday Saharan admitted they played a few rash shots in the final clash against Australia at Willowmoore Park, Benoni on Sunday. In pursuit of 254, which would have been the highest run-chase in the Under-19 World Cup, India was skittled out for 174 and lost by 79 runs.

This is Australia’s fourth title and they were able to continue the unbeaten streak in the tournament. Meanwhile, Indian opener Adarsh Singh top-scored with 47 whereas Murugan Abhishek scored 42 runs but none of the Indian batters could go past the 50-run mark.

The Indian Colts kept losing wickets at regular intervals and it led to their downfall in the end as they could not defend their title. Mahli Beardman was the chief destroyer as the pacer returned with impressive figures of 3-15 in his seven overs. Raf MacMillan also bagged three wickets in his fine spell for Australia.

Uday Saharan said in the post-match presentation, “I’m proud of the boys, they played really well. Showed good fighting spirit throughout the tournament. We played a few rash shots today, didn’t spend time in the middle. We were prepared but couldn’t execute the plans.”

The right-hander added there were a lot of learnings for the team from the competition.

He added, “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.”

Saharan top-scored in the tournament with 397 runs in seven matches but his first single-digit score came at the wrong time as he was dismissed for eight in the all-important final.

India’s Under-19 won all of their six matches but could not cross the last hurdle against Australia but the young boys can be proud of their consistent performances throughout the competition.