Skipper Yash Dhull gave a glimpse of his enormous talent with a superbly-crafted hundred as he joined his seniors Virat Kohli and Unmukt Chand in an elite list after India thrashed Australia by 96 runs in the blockbuster semifinal of the ongoing ICC U-19 Men’s World Cup 2022 on Wednesday. (More Cricket News)
Dhull’s scored a run-a-ball 110, which included 10 fours and a six, to become the third Indian captain to hit a hundred in the tournament's history after illustrious Kohli’s 100 in 2008 (vs West Indies) and Chand’s 111 not out (vs Australia) four years later.
Interestingly, all three hail from Delhi and India won the title both under Kohli and Chand. “It’s a proud moment (to be the third Indian captain to score a U-19 World Cup ton after Virat Kohli and Unmukt Chand),” Dhull said after the win. India will face England, who defeated Afghanistan, in the final on February 5.
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Going into the match as favourites, India opted to put runs on the board after winning the toss, despite knowing it wasn’t the easiest of pitches to bat on. India were two down inside 15 overs when Dhull along with his deputy Shaik Rasheed steadied the Indian ship.
The duo put up a huge 204 runs for the third wicket to pile up a score that might well be beyond Australia’s reach as India posted 290/5 in 50 overs. Rasheed missed on a well-deserved ton by six runs. Australia leaked as many as 108 runs in the last 10 overs with the 50th over going for 27.
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“The idea was to bat steadily, not to try too many shots, and to bat past the 40th over. Myself and Rasheed bat well together, we combine well and it showed,” Dhull said. “Rasheed is mentally very strong. We were in the bubble together and he is always mentally prepared.”
Chasing a record target, Australia lost their in-form opener, Teague Wyllie, before Campbell Kellaway (30) and Corey Miller (38) forged a fluent 68-run stand before perishing in a space of six balls, leaving Australia at 73 for three.
Lachlan Shaw tried his best with a fighting 51 but that wasn’t enough as they were bowled out for 194 41.5 overs. “Look going into the last 10 we thought we were in a pretty good position, but they got the upper hand on us and scored 100 in that last 10, so yeah, I reckon 290 was a little bit too much for us,” Australia skipper Cooper Connolly said.
