THE Under-19 World Cups come thick and fast: once every two years. Soon enough, most of the players appearing in today’s final will graduate, their cricket limited by franchises and passports rather than age limits. But for now, India and England’s roads at this World Cup finally converge.
England stormed into the final after their captain, Thomas Rwe, starred with a 110 that took them to a 27-run win against defending champions Australia. India were faced with a tall task of chasing down a record-setting 311, against Afghanistan. However, India’s batters – led by a swashbuckling century by opener Aaron George raced to the target with 53 balls and seven wickets to spare, to lay down the marker on a Harare pitch that should continue to have plenty in it for the batters.
India and England have met once in the recent past: they faced off in a warm-up match right before the tournament proper. In the rain-interrupted encounter, James Rew starred with a 66-ball 71* to take England home. This time around, there will be plenty more stakes involved for either side.
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They might as well be facing each other for the first time. The Harare Sports Club has served up fast-paced pitches in the tournament so far. The semi-final between India and Afghanistan was a belter in particular, with the ball coming onto the bat and seeing an aggregate of 621 runs scored between both sides at a run rate of 6.81.
If the final happens on a similar surface, conditions will favour the batters again. The weather on Friday has a chance of light rain: the match will begin at 9.30am local time; shower and thunder might roll in after 5pm. The temperature will hover around the mid-20s (Celsius) throughout.
• England have won just one men’s Under-19 World Cup, way back in 1998, when the tournament was being played in its modern-day format for the first time. Since then, they have just appeared in a solitary final: in 2022, when they incidentally lost to India. • India, on the other hand, will be appearing in their 11th final out of the 14 that have taken place since the turn of the century.
They will be keen to add to their five championships, which is already the most at the tournament. • In six matches at Harare in this tournament, teams have scored at a run rate of 5.42. If the true surface on display during the India vs Afghanistan semi-final was any indication, the final might be another high-scoring affair between two explosive batting line-ups.– ESPNCricinfo
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