Benoni [South Africa], February 11 (ANI): India skipper Uday Saharan asserted that the squad is ready to face the challenges that will come during the Under-19 World Cup final against Australia at Willowmoore on Sunday, adding that everyone is fit and in a good state of mind.
The final will be providing an opportunity for the India Colts to extract a measure of revenge on the Aussies after the senior team, led by Rohit Sharma, lost to Australia in the finals of the 50-over showpiece event in their backyard last year and also in the ICC World Test Championship in the UK.
While speaking in the pre-match press conference, Saharan said that the squad is “fit” and “well-prepared” ahead of the final.
Talking of the pitch in Benoni, the India skipper said that the ‘Boys in Blues’ are ready to “face all the challenges”.
“We are very excited for the finals. Everyone’s fit and well-prepared, and a good mindset. We’ve seen the wickets. We’ve played there before, and we know quite a bit about it. We’re ready to face all the challenges,” Saharan said as quoted by ICC.
Saharan also said that Team India was watching the action during the thrilling second semifinal between Australia and Pakistan, in which Aussies chased down a low total of 180 runs with just a wicket in hand. The skipper said that the team watched the match from their hotel, hoping to get an idea of the challenges to come during the title clash.
“We were watching the game from the sidelines. We wanted to see how the game was panning out, and how competitive it was. We wanted to gauge the kind of challenges that we’d come across. We watched the ending as well in the hotel, it was a nice game with a close finish. But we’ve our plans, and we’ll execute them [in the final],” he said.
The defending world champions (India) emerged as one of the most successful sides in the tournament with an all-win record in the group stages and eliminators and will set sights on a sixth title in their ninth appearance in a final.
On the other hand, the Aussies last won the U19 World Cup under the leadership of Mitchell Marsh in 2010. Even though they have faced off the ‘Boys in Blues’ twice in a final, they have failed to clinch a single win.
The final match between India and Australia will kick off at 1:30 PM IST.
India U19 Squad: Adarsh Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (C), Priyanshu Moliya, Sachin Dhas, Aravelly Avanish (Wk), Murugan Abhishek, Raj Limbani, Naman Tiwari, Saumy Pandey, Aaradhya Shukla, Ansh Gosai, Dhanush Gowda, Rudra Patel, Prem Devkar, Mohamed Amaan, Innesh Mahajan.
Australia U19 Squad: Harry Dixon, Sam Konstas, Hugh Weibgen (C), Harjas Singh, Ryan Hicks (Wk), Oliver Peake, Tom Campbell, Raf MacMillan, Tom Straker, Mahli Beardman, Callum Vidler, Lachlan Aitken, Charlie Anderson, Harkirat Bajwa, Corey Wasley, Aidan O Connor. (ANI)
