Manjot Kalra's superb century helped India lift the ICC U-19 World Cup. Kalra's 101 came off 102 balls.
Winning their fourth U-19 World Cup, India surpassed Australia for the most U-19 World Cup titles.
India made it to 220/2 as Harvik Desai scored the winning runs, hitting a four off Will Sutherland and defeated Australia by 8 wickets.
Australia were dismissed for 216 after Indian bowlers displayed a spirited and disciplined performance.
The Indian side started well as captain Prithvi Shaw scored 29 runs from 41 balls before being dismissed by Sutherland, but Kalra and Shubman Gill carried the momentum on chasing 217.
Desai walked in to support Kalra after Gill was bowled out by Param Uppal at 31. Kalra was in splendid form as he hammered the Australian bowlers. In the end, he finished with eight fours and three sixes.
Shaw, having scored a total of 261 runs in the tournament, became the top-scoring Indian captain in the U-19 World Cup. Gill finished as the top scorer of the tournament with 372 runs.
Australia, who were at 183/4 at one point, were decimated by the Indian bowlers with I.C. Porel, Shiva Singh, K.L. Nagarkoti and Anukul Roy taking two wickets each. While Indian spinners delivered under pressure in the middle overs, the pacers were impressive again upfront and towards the end.
Former India captain and coach of the U-19 team, Rahul Dravid said, “Really proud of the boys and the effort they put in,” said Dravid as his boys continued with the on-field celebrations. “Hopefully, it's a memory they'll cherish for a long, long time, but hopefully it's not a memory that defines them and they have many more great moments and bigger things as they go on ahead in their careers.” This is the biggest success for Dravid during his time as coach.
With inputs from agencies
