It will be a final-like clash before the final of the Under-19 World Cup 2022 as Yash Dhull-led India take on old foes Australia in the semi-final on February 2. Good news for India is that they will go into the encounter with a bolstered team as Nishant Sindhu returns after recovering from Covid-19.
Journey to last four
India have been unbeaten in the tournament so far with convincing win over South Africa followed by big wins over Ireland and Uganda. Even as many as five players testing positive for Covid-19 in the group stage did not dull India’s performance. India also knocked out Bangladesh in the quarter-final to avenge their defeat in the previous edition’s final. They were clinical against the arch-rivals with the return of skipper Dhull, vice-captain Shaik Rasheed and others into the side.
On the other hand, Australia had a bumpy ride in the group stages as they were beaten by Sri Lanka who are now out of the tournament. However, they were flawless against Pakistan in the quarter-final with a one-sided win to progress into the last four.
This is the fourth time in a row India will appear in the last four stage of the tournament. If India manage to beat Australia, they will become the first team to qualify for four consecutive finals.
Current form and threats
In the batting department, India have a good mix of players. Angkrish Raghuvanshi has been in brilliant form of late. Raghuvanshi also scored a big hundred against minnows Uganda along with Raj Bawa. Harnoor Singh already has a large number of runs under his belt whereas Dhull has been a dependable batter in the top order. India have hitters in Bawa and Rajvardhan Hangargekar.
In the bowling department, Hangargekar has impressed the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin with his natural in-swingers. New-ball bowler Ravi Kumar was instrumental too in bundling out Bangladesh by taking three wickets in the first powerplay. India will need them to provide early wickets especially with Australian openers Campbell Kellaway and Teague Wyllie in form along with top-order batter Corey Miller.
Vicky Ostwal has provided breakthroughs in the middle overs. Ostwal was instrumental in India’s opening game of the tournament with a fifer against South Africa. His wicket-taking ability will be crucial in the semi-final as it will prevent Aussies from preventing Australia to play freely with wickets in hand.
Another positive for India going into the semi-final will be that they had beaten Australia by nine wickets in the warm-up game. Harnoor scored a century whereas Dhull remained unbeaten for 50 in the successful run chase of 269. Hangargekar (3) and Ravi (4) were among wickets again whereas for Australia, skipper Cooper Connolly scored 117.
Squads:
India U-19: Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harnoor Singh, Shaik Rasheed, Yash Dhull (c), Siddarth Yadav, Raj Bawa, Kaushal Tambe, Dinesh Bana (wk), Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Vicky Ostwal, Ravi Kumar, Manav Parakh, Nishant Sindhu, Aneeshwar Gautam, Aaradhya Yadav, Garv Sangwan
Australia U-19: Campbell Kellaway, Teague Wyllie, Corey Miller, Cooper Connolly (c), Lachlan Shaw, Aidan Cahill, William Salzmann, Tobias Snell (wk), Tom Whitney, Jack Sinfield, Jack Nisbet, Harkirat Bajwa, Joshua Garner, Isaac Higgins, Nivethan Radhakrishnan
