India beat England by four wickets in Antigua on Saturday to claim their fifth ICC Under-19 World Cup title, led by Raj Bawa's all-round performance. In the low-scoring match, India chased down the tricky 190-run target with only 14 balls to spare, thanks to expert half-centuries from Shaik Rasheed and Nishant Sindhu.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, England struggled to gain traction in their innings. Raj Bawa and Ravi Kumar, the pace combination, struck at regular intervals to torment the English. After left-arm seamer Bawa bowled skipper Tom Prest for a second-ball duck, James Rew fought back for the English, but Bawa continued to pick up wickets. After being reduced to 91 for 7 in the 25th over, Rew resurrected England's innings with a 93-run partnership in the company of No. 9 James Sales, who contributed an unbeaten 65-ball 34. In turn, Rew's 116-ball 95 propelled England to a competitive total.
However, what could have been a 230-240 score ended up being a sub-200 one as Rew was caught in the deep by a diving Kaushal Tambe in the 44th over. Rana finished with 4 for 34 as England lost their final three wickets for five runs. In response, India did not have the most fluid of batting performances, but many good partnerships that they managed to stitch along the road aided their cause. After losing opener Angkrish Raghvanshi for a second-ball duck, Shaikh Rasheed and Harnoor Singh put up a 49-run stand before Harnoor Singh was caught behind.
Rasheed, on the other hand, went on to hit his second consecutive half century, and he and captain Yash Dhull helped India reach a stable position towards the halfway point of their innings. However, James Sales struck twice in successive overs to dismiss both set batters, reducing India to a precarious 97 for 4. England clawed their way back into the game, but Bawa and Sindhu turned the tide with a 67-run stand - the highest of India's innings. Bawa was out for a watchful 35, but Sindhu's unbeaten half-century propelled India over the finish line. Dinesh Bana hit two consecutive sixes in the 48th over, bowled by Sales, to help India surpass England's total.
India 195/6 in 47.4 overs (Nishant Sindhu 50*, Shaik Rasheed 50; Joshua Boydon 2-24, Thomas Aspinwall 2-42) defeated England U19 189 in 44.5 overs (James Rew 95, James Sales 34*; Raj Bawa 5-31, Ravi Kumar 4-34) by 4 wickets
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