U19 World Cup: India beat England to win record-extending fifth title

For the fifth time in history, India have become the Under-19 World Champions. Yash Dhull led his inspirational unit of boys gallantly as India continued to write history, defeating England by four wickets in the final to be crowned winners of the 2022 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. After the bowlers gave India the perfect start - Raj Bawa claimed a historic five-wicket-haul - despite a little stutter with the bat, the middle-lower order showed great resistance to take their team over the line.

In a topsy-turvy final full of drama, the Indian bowlers ran through the English batting order, bowling them out on 189 before Nishant Sindhu's steely nerves steered India to victory as he remained unbeaten on With a record fifth title, India are now two ahead of second-best Australia (three titles) in U-19 World Cups.

England were the happier side after winning the toss as Dhull had also wanted to bat first in Antigua; however, the cheer in English camp didn't last long as Ravi Kumar struck twice within the first three overs - removing danger man Jacob Bethell (2) and captain Prest (0) cheaply.

The English side failed to recover from the early wickets as George Thomas (27) gave away a strong start, handing an easy catch to Dhull off Raj Bawa's delivery. James Rew (95) stuck at one end as wickets continued to fall on the other, with Bawa dismissing William Luxton (4) and George Bell (0) off successive deliveries to put England under severe pressure.

Rehan Ahmed and wicketkeeper-batter Alex Hourton were the next two to be dismissed with both fetching 10 runs each. Following their dismissal, Rew went on to stitch a crucial 93-run stand for the eighth wicket with James Sales, before he was caught in spectacular fashion in the deep by Kaushal Tambe off Ravi Kumar's bowling. Ravi Kumar then went on to pick his fourth wicket of the match in the same over, packing Thomas Aspinwall on 0, after which, Bawa wrapped up the England innings with the wicket of Joshua Boyden.

In response, India got off to a shaky start as opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi returned to the pavilion without adding a single run on the scoreboard. His partner Harnoor Singh along with Shaik Rasheed then went to add 49 runs for the second wicket, before the former got dismissed caught-behind on 21 as a short delivery by Thomas Aspinwall.

Rasheed continued his impressive run and went on to complete his second fifty in a row. However, Rasheed was soon dismissed after he reached the milestone and captain Yash Dhull too failed to chip in with a big score. With India on 97/2, England sniffed a chance, but that's where the never-give-up attitude of this young Indian unit came to the fore. With India another 93 runs away from victory, Bawa and Sindhu came together for a match-altering partnership. The two batters took time to settle and did not rush, maintaining the required run rate and going about their business without too much of a risk.

The shackles broke in the 40th over, when Sindhu smoked Ahmed for the first Indian six of the match. Off the next ball, it was Bawa's turn to go big and big did he go. The 50-run partnership between the two was up in no time and India were on their way. The alliance knocked the wind out of England's sails as their wait for a breakthrough continued. With India looking set to seal a six-wicket victory, Boyden got England breathing again with the wicket of Bawa.