Australia beat Pak by 1 wkt in a thrilling U19WC SF & will meet India in 3rd final in a year

 

The battle between India and Australia in the final of Under-19 World Cup 2024 has been fixed.  Australia has defeated Pakistan in the semi-final match held on Thursday and now on Sunday i.e. 11th February, the teams of India and Australia will clash for the World Cup trophy.  That is, just as there will be a final battle between India and Australia in the Senior ODI World Cup, now the same scene will be seen in the Junior World Cup also.

 Pakistan lost by 1 wicket in a thrilling semi-final which went till the last over. At one time it seemed that Australia had lagged behind in the match, but the game was over finally in the last over.  Pakistan had given Australia a target of 180 runs, in response Australia won in the last over by losing 9 wickets.

 If we talk about this match, Pakistan had scored only 179 runs while batting first.  Only 3 players from Pakistan were able to cross the double figures.  In the semi-finals, Azan Awais scored 52 runs and Arafat Minhas scored 52 runs.  All the other batsmen proved to be a complete failure, apart from these, if we talk about Australia, Tom Starker broke the back of Pakistani batting by taking 6 wickets.  Tom took 6 wickets for just 24 runs in just 9.5 overs and he bowled quite brilliantly .

 Australia achieved this target in the last over after losing 9 wickets.  In a breath-taking match, Harry Dixon (50) and Oliver Peak (49) batted brilliantly for Australia. Campbell also scored a useful 25 batting under pressure.   At one time the Australian team had lost 4 wickets at the score of 59, but after this Australia made a comeback and at 146/5 they were cruising as the match looked over but Pakistani quicks made a great fightback to rattle the lower order of the Aussies as 4 wickets fell for 18 runs as Australia slipped to 164/9. However in extreme tension the last wicket pair batted brilliantly to snatch an improbable win in the final over .  In the end, Rafe McMillan played an amazing innings  of 19 runs for Australia under extreme pressure , which proved to be a match-winning innings . For Pakistan Ali Raza bowled brilliantly.  He bowled fast and straight and took 4 wickets and almost took the team to a famous victory but at the end Australia won by the bairest of margins and there was heartbreak for Pakistan team and their fans .

 Team India had made it to the final by defeating South Africa by 2 wickets in the first semi-final.  In the semi-finals, South Africa, batting first, had scored 244 runs, in reply Team India achieved this target in the 49th over.  For India, captain Uday Saharan played match-winning innings of 81 runs and Sachin Dhas played 96 runs.

 Team India has made it to the finals of the Under-19 World Cup for the ninth time in total and for the fifth consecutive time.  Indian team is the most successful team of Under-19 World Cup, Team India has won this title 5 times which started in the year 2000, after which Team India had won in 2008, 2012, 2018 and 2022.