Antigua: Captain Yash Dhull and his deputy Shaik Rasheed’s 204-run stand for the third wicket here on Wednesday knocked out Australia to set up a summit clash against England. This will be the fourth consecutive U19 World Cup final for India and the eighth overall. Chasing a 291-run target, Australia were bowled out for 194 in 41.5 overs. Spinner Vicky Ostwal ran through the Australia middle-order when the Aussies were making attempts to put themselves back into chasing a mammoth 291-run target set by India. Ostwal picked up 3 wickets for 42 runs in 10 overs. Campbell Kellaway (30) was the first of his victims, followed by William Salzmann (7) and Tobias Snell (4), which twirled the noose around Australian innings. Other bowlers Ravi Kumar, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Nishant Sindhu picked wickets at regular intervals. While Sindhu and Ravi Kumar bagged two wickets each, Raghuvanshi scalped one. The middle order collapse put tremendous pressure on Australia as a run rate of 9 runs per over was too much of an asking when they needed 100 plus runs. The Aussies lost by 96 runs. After electing to bat, Rasheed (94) and Dhull (110) built a 204-run for third wicket which helped India reach 290 for 5, along with a late blitz by Nishant Sindhu (12 no) and Dinesh Bana (20 no). Following the dismissals of openers, Dhull and Rasheed staged a brilliant fightback to bring India back on to the track. Rajvardhan Hangargekar (13 from 10 balls) and unbeaten knocks of Nishant Sindhu (12 from 10 balls) and Dinesh Bana (20 from 4 balls), along with Dhull and Rasheed, helped India amass 108 runs in last 10 overs. With both Dhull and Rasheed falling off consecutive deliveries in the 46th over, Australia had a wonderful chance to restrict India to 265 something, but Dinesh Bana (20 from 4 balls), Nishant Sindhu (12 from 10 balls) and Rajvardhan Hangargekar (13 from 10 balls) did not give the Aussies a chance. India ended putting on 290 for 5 in stipulated 50 overs. It was the mammoth 204-run partnership between Dhull and Rasheed for the third wicket that set it up for India after getting together at 37 for 2 when the side was staring at massive trouble against the indomitable Aussies. Dhull kept the scoreboard busy while Rasheed took his time and made it even more quicker once he raced past his 50. Rasheed cracked his second boundary in the 19th over after executing one in the ninth over. He was lucky when he was dropped on 24 of spinner Jack Sinfield in the 23rd over. It was a sharp chance and the fielder mistimed the leap, which made him miss the opportunity. By 36th over, Rasheed reached his 50 after executing a soft back-footed tap in front of cover for a single off Connolly. Three overs later, the one drop batsman cut loose and cracked boundaries at will. Unfortunately, Rasheed missed on his century by six runs as he was caught by Jack Sinfield at point, which was referred to the third umpire to check on the catch. The off-field umpire adjudged him out. Dhull also took his time to settle in. After getting his eye in he started to punish poor balls to the fence. He slapped Conolly between sweeper and long-off. The Indian captain then late cut Sinfield and chopped fiercely through an empty point off Tom Whitney for a boundary before he hammered another boundary over mid-wicket in his next over to reach his 50. After going past the half-century, Dhull cut loose and started to hammer the balls to boundary at will. Soon, he reached his century by walking across and nudging Whitney for 2 runs into mid-wicket. Before he departed, run out, the captain had spanked 10 boundaries and a six in his 110-ball knock. In-form Indian opening pair Angkrish Raghuvanshi (6 off 30) and Harnoor Singh (16 off 28) were cheaply scalped by William Salzmann and Jack Nisbet under 13 overs. For Australia, Nisbet and Salzmann picked two wickets each. Australia needed a massive effort to chase this down. UNI BDN MR
