ICC U19 World Cup: Battled Covid, made record totals — Yash Dhull-led India's road to final

(Source: Twitter)

The Indian U19 team has fought many a battles to storm into finals of the ICC U19 World Cup 2022 going on in the caribbean islands. 

The Yash Dhull-led side have been consistently brilliant despite the Covid outbreak in the team. Even captain Dhull was affected by it and had to be islolated and at one stage India found it difficult to find and field the best XI on the ground. 

India become the first team in #U19CWC history to qualify for four consecutive finals _ pic.twitter.com/bHkhaes9WI— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) February 2, 2022

Yet this team has managed to reach the final of the tournament a record fourth straight time.

Here's their journey to the final

Match 1: vs South Africa

India won the toss in this match and opted to bat first. They put on 232 runs thanks to a brilliant 82 by Dhull. Chasing the target, South Africa managed only 187, losing the game by 45 runs. India started off the campaign with a brilliant win. 

Match 2: vs Ireland

In this game, India batted first again and thanks to fifties from openers Harnoor Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, reached 307 at the end of 50 overs. Ireland crumbled to just 133 while chasing the target, handing India a huge win of 174 runs. 

Match 3: vs Uganda

This was the match before which Indian players tested positive. But it had no impact on India's run. They beat Uganda by a record margin of 326 runs. India batted first again and put on a mammoth 405 runs thans to 162 scored by Raj Bawa, who also broke Shikhar Dhawan's record of most runs in an innings by an Indian in the tournament. In reply, Uganda were bowled out for just 79. 

India are through to the #U19CWC 2022 Super League semi-final _

They beat Bangladesh by five wickets.#INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/kNI6594fvI— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) January 29, 2022

Quarter-final: vs Bangladesh

India bowled first on a tricky track and thanks to Ravi Kumar's brilliant spell where he picked three wickets, Bangladesh were bowled out for just 111 runs. India faced some challenges but they managed to go past the target in just 30.5 overs to move to the semi-finals. 

Semi-finals: vs Australia

An even-ball century by skipper Yash Dhull (110) and his 204-run partnership for the third wicket with Shaik Rasheed (94) set up India Under-19 for a 96-run victory against Australia in the semi-finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup.

India win by 96 runs against Australia and storm into the final of the #U19CWC 2022 _ pic.twitter.com/qfS18e4PTA— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) February 2, 2022

India, the most successful nation in U19 Cricket World Cup history with four titles, thus reached the fourth successive final and will take on England in the summit clash. India last won the title in 2018 in the biennial event and had lost to Bangladesh in the final two years back.

Electing to bat first, India were in a spot of bother at 37/2 with both openers Angkrish Raghuvanshi (6) and Harnoor Singh (16) back in the pavilion. Skipper Dhull (110 off 110) and Rasheed (94 off 108) stitched together a majestic partnership of 204 runs to help the 2020 finalists reach 290/4 in 50 overs at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.