U-19 World Cup Final: Unmukt Chand slams ton, India defeat Australia by 6 wickets

Live updates from the U-19 World Cup 2012 final between India and Australia.

Zeenews Sports Bureau

Townsville (Australia): Skipper Unmukt Chand slammed an unbeaten century guiding India to their third U-19 World Cup title defeating Australia in the final on Sunday. Meet India’s World Cup winning heroes» | World Cup final: In Pics » India chased down the target of 226 runs that the defending champions set up after being called in to bat, with six wickets remaining and 14 balls to spare. Chand played a captain’s knock he scored unbeaten 111 runs. Batting first, Australia lost four wickets at the score of 38. It was Trevor Head and captain William Bosisto who stemmed the flow of wickets and it took a run out to break the partnership that had grown to 65. Next to join Bosisto was Ashton Turner who scored 43 to add 93 for the sixth wicket with the Aussie skipper. Man of the series, Bosisto top scored for the hosts with 87* while for India Sandeep Singh took 4/54. Spinner Harmeet Singh kept the batsmen in check returning with figures of 1/36 in 10 overs. Indian chase also started on a negative note as they lost the wicket of in-form Prashant Chopra (0) in the first over itself. Baba Aparajith and Unmukt Chand then steered the innings forward scoring at a brisk pace adding 73 for the second wicket before Aparajith was brilliantly caught by Turner at extra cover. Two more quick wickets and India looked a bit shaky. The Australians had them under pressure with two consecutive maidens that eventually led to the dismissal of Vijay Zol who poked at a wide delivery edging it to the keeper. Hanuma Vihari was caught by Turner off his own bowling to leave the 2008 champions tottering. In came Smit Patel and joined his captain to first calm things down in the middle. The run rate had climbed to over six an over. The duo managed to keep their heads calm and cool and refrained from taking any unnecessary risk seeing the overs of seamers Joel Paris and Gurinder Sandhu who bowled with tight line and length. Unmukt Chand was dropped by his counterpart when he was on 84 and it proved to too costly for the Australians as he went on to complete his century that turned out to be the decisive factor. Patel, who had also reached his half-century, sealed the victory with boundary towards midwicket region as the Indian squad broke into wild celebrations. AS IT HAPPENED Indian innings Over 47.3 I Score: 227/4 It’s all over! Patel seals with a four as India become U-19 World champions for the third team defeating Australia in the final by six wickets. Unmukt Chand has played the innings of a captain here registering a century in the final. There were moments of uncertainty when the run flow stopped and the wickets of Aparajith, Vihari and Zol fell in quick succession. The skipper, however, remained calm and along with wicketkeeper-batsman Smith Patel drove them home with 14 deliveries to spare. Over 47 I Score: 220/4 The Indians are in a hurry to wrap things up here. Smit Patel has reached his fifty via a single. Unmukt sends Steketee for a six over long on. This is his sixth six of the innings. Patel hooks the penultimate delivery for a four as Patterson drops him in the very next delivery at midwicket. Over 46 I Score: 205/4 Class Act from the skipper. He brings his ton with a six over cover. Over 45 I Score: 191/4 5 overs remaining and India need 35 runs to lay their hands on the World Cup trophy. Unmukt Chand has certainly played a captain’s innings and is nearing a ton. Over 43.2 I Score: 177/4 Bosisto drops Unmukt on 84! Has he dropped the WC? He is furious. Meanwhile, to rub salt on wounds, Chand has dispatched Gregory’s penultimate delivery for a six straight down the ground, his fourth of the innings so far. Over 40 I Score: 165/4 Unmukt gets into the act! After seeing the proceedings quietly, Chand dances down the track and sends the ball sailing over midwicket region for biggie. He follows that up with a cut that produces three runs. The 39th over from Turner has been a good one for India as they have collected 12 runs from it. The match now moves to the final 10 overs. Nicely poised and has the making of a thriller. Over 35 I Score: 135/4 The asking rate has now climbed to over six an over. The difference between Indian and Australian innings was that the latter kept the score board ticking with singles, doubles and finding that odd boundary in between. Unmukt, though, managed to score a boundary off the last ball of the 35th over. At same stage Australia were 119/5. Good thing for the Indian team is that their captain is still on the crease. Over 30 I Score: 116/4 The flow of run has stopped for the Indian batsmen. Unmukt Chand and Smit Patel are in the middle as India need another 110 from 120 deliveries. The run rate is climbing and is now 5.50. The Australians aren’t giving anything away. Over 24.2 I Score: 97/4 This was on the cards! The Australians had put pressure on the Indians with two consecutive maidens and Vijay Zol, who had played 13 deliveries to score a single, poked at a delivery that was pitched outside off stump by Paris. The ball took an edge and went into the hands of keeper Peirson. In comes Smit Patel. The runs have dried here for India. Over 21.3 I Score: 97/3 Unmukt Chand reaches his half-century via a cut behind point for a boundary. Can he play the innings similar in nature to his Australian counterpart? Over 18 I Score: 82/3 Turner is proving to be the trump card here for Australia! He has dismissed Hanuma Vihari with a simple return catch off his own bowling. India are suddenly looking a bit shaky after the second wicket stand between Chand and Aparajith had brought them in a comfortable position. Vihari scored 4 (13b). Vijat Zol is the new man in. Over 15 I Score: 77/2 It took a superb effort from Ashton Turner at extra cover to put an end to Aparaijth’s innings. He took a one-handed catch to his left as the batsman went for a drive. Sandhu has provided the breakthrough for the hosts and the fielders are delighted to have finally broken the stand (73 runs for the second wicket) that threatened to take the match away from them. Aparajith scored 33 (38b, 5X4). Over 10 I Score: 60/1 Chand and Aparajith have upped the ante and are now scoring freely. The confidence is quite apparent from the six that Chand hit over long off in Gurinder Sandhu’s first over of the match. The duo has so far added 58 runs for the second wicket. Over 5 I Score: 22/1 The Indians finally break the shackles and have collected 11 runs from Paris’ third over including two boundaries. Baba Aparijith is the new man in after Chopra’s dismissal early in the innings. The first boundary of the Indian innings came off his bat via a drive through covers followed by a single to third man. Chand chimed in with a boundary through point. Over 1.2 I Score: 2/1 Not a start that India were hoping for as their in-form batsman Prashant Chopra has got out for a duck. Paris sent one down to the leg and Chopra looked to play it fine getting a faint edge to the keeper. Over 1 I Score: 0/0 Joel Paris opens up the proceedings for the hosts as Unmukt Chand and Prashant Chopra take guard in the middle. The first over is a maiden. India need 226 runs in 50 overs to win this final of the ICC U-19 cricket world cup. Australian innings Over 50 I Score: 225/8 Australia posted 225/8 in their allotted quota of 50 overs after being called into bat by India. They began their innings on a troublesome note losing their openers within three overs. By the end of 30 overs, they were five down but the pair of Ashton Turner and captain William Bosisto added 93 for the sixth wicket leading the team out of trouble. Bosisto played a captain’s knock and top scored with 85* while Sandeep Sharma took 4/54. Over 48.1 I Score: 206/8 Another wicket goes down! This time it’s Joel Paris who was run out without adding anything to the total. Bosisto went for a drive and quickly set off for a single. He went for a second but the throw from Vihari at long off caught his partner, Paris, short off the crease. Over 47.4 I Score: 204/7 Alex Gregory was the new man in after the departure of Turner and he hit a length ball from Sandeep high in the air. Akshdeep Nath kept his cool and took the catch even as three Indian players went for it. Gregory scored four. Over 46 I Score: 196/6 Quite an eventful over from Sandeep Sharma! 13 runs and a wicket from the last ball. Bosisto and Turner switched gears and had hit a boundary and a six in the over respectively. Sharma came back to ènd Turner’s cameo as the righty was caught by Unmukt Chand. He scored 43 (50b, 3X4, 1X 6). Sharma has now picked three wickets in the match. The pair had added 93 runs in 16.5 overs. Over 45 I Score: 183/5 William Bosisto has completed his second fifty of the tournament. He is playing a captain’s knock here successfully shepherding his team out of trouble. He has hit four boundaries so far. The pair is keeping the scoreboard ticking. Over 41 I Score: 151/5 The Australian pair of Turner (25*) and Bosisto (46*) has added 50 runs for the sixth wicket. Over 37 I Score: 135/5 Ashton Turner is turning things for his team. So far, the right-hander has hit three boundaries including two in an over of Sharma towards extra cover and backward point area. Over 29.1 I Score: 103/5 Travis Head and captain William Bosisto stemmed the flow of wickets adding 65 runs for the fifth wicket. The partnership was broken when a brilliant effort from Harmeet Singh caught Head short of crease at the non-strikers’ end. He left after scoring 37. Over 15 I Score: 52/4 Meyrick Buchanan and Kurtis Patterson could add 30 runs to the Australian total before both of them fell at the score of 38. The former edged one from Ravikant Singh to the keeper while the latter was bowled by off-spinner Baba Aparajith. Over 10 I Score: 37/2 The defending champions got off to a bad start and had lost both their openers within the space of three overs. Right-arm medium Sandeep Sharma got the first scalp in the first over of the match with the wicket of Jimmy Peirson who registered a duck after being bowled. Next to depart was his opening partner Cameron Bancroft. He was out lbw to Sandeep, scoring just 2 in 14 deliveries. Earlier, Indian U-19 captain Unmukt Chand won the toss and elected to bowl first against Australia in the final of the ICC U-19 World Cup 2012 on Sunday.