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A riveting battle of cricket awaits the cricket fans as England won the toss and invited India to bowl first in the Under-19 World Cup summit clash.
India are on a five-match winning streak and they are expected to pull off another sensational victory to take their title tally to five.
England Under 19 are also undefeated in the tournament. They defeated Afghanistan in the semi-final by 15 runs to secure a place in the final.
We will have a bat first, pitch looks a good one and obviously scorecard pressure, chasing in a finals is always hard. To put 230 against them (Afghanistan) and then defend how we did gives us great confidence going into this game. We are playing the same team," said England skipper Tom Prest before the match.
Meanwhile Indian captain Yash Dhull said,"We also wanted to bat first. We take it game by game and we play with a positive mindset. Change of venue doesn't bother us. No changes in the playing eleven for us."
The all charged up Indian side, which has a great track record in Under-19 World Cup outing as they have clinched four titles after playing eight finals in the last 14 seasons. The Yash Dhull side will yet again look to stamp their dominance in the final against England. While India set sights on the record fifth title, England will also look to slug it out for the coveted glory in what promises to be a high octane drama.
Even in the face of battling the dreaded Covid-19 infection off the field, the Indian did not face any problem in cruising into the final, which shows the resilience of the players and the depth of the team. Skipper Dhull and vice-captain Sheikh Rashid missed two out of three matches due to infection. Dhull, who was the worst affected among the infected players, scored a brilliant century in the semi-final against Australia while Rashid played the second fiddle with an impressive innings of 95 runs.
Opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Harnoor Singh were extra cautious in their approach in the semifinal against Australia and the duo will need to change their approach for the summit clash.
What makes India's bunch of teenagers look the part is their unexpected maturity. The way Dhull and Rasheed batted after a patchy start against Australia was a lesson in pacing the innings.
Only a few out of the current lot are likely to graduate to the highest level in the years to follow but in the short term, a special performance on Saturday afternoon can land them a life changing IPL deal at the upcoming mega auction.
While the batters have put up individual performances, the bowling department has fired in unison.
The extra pace of Rajvardhan Hangargekar and swing of left-armer Ravi Kumar has rattled the top order batters while the Vicky Ostwal-led spin attack has stifled the opposition in the middle overs. He is India's leading wicket-taker with 12 scalps at 10.75.
India face England, a team which last reached the title clash way back in 1998 when it won its sole trophy till date.
After a tense finish in the semifinal against Afghanistan, England will be more than keen to end their title drought of the last 24 years.
Just like India, the English colts too remain unbeaten in the tournament. Captain Tom Prest has led from the front with 292 runs at an average of 73 while left-arm pacer Joshua Boyden has taken 13 wickets at a stellar average of 9.53.
India U-19 Playing XI: Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harnoor Singh, Shaik Rasheed, Yash Dhull (Captain), Nishant Sindhu, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dinesh Bana (Wicketkeeper), Kaushal Tambe, Raj Bawa, Vicky Ostwal, Ravi Kumar.
England U-19 Playing XI: George Thomas, Jacob Bethell, Tom Prest (Captain), James Rew, William Luxton, George Bell, Rehan Ahmed, Alex Horton (Wicketkeeper), James Sales, Thomas Aspinwall, Joshua Boyden
