Under 19 World Cup 2016: West Indies clinch maiden title, beat India by 5 wickets
The West Indies team caused a major upset in the 2016 Under 19 World Cup final as they defeated India by five wickets to clinch their maiden title. The boys in maroon reached the final of the tournament for the second time in history, and managed to bowl out their opponents for a meagre 145 runs. They then chased down the target with five wickets to spare.
India, who were favourites to win the game, were asked to bat first. They were expected to put up a challenging total, but wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant fell in the first over itself. He was stumped off the bowling of Azarri Joseph, after scoring a solitary run.
Joseph struck again, removing Anmolpreet Singh and Ishan Kishan to leave the boys in blue tottering at 26/3 in the seventh over. The pacer eventually finished his bowling quota after giving away 39 runs and claiming three wickets.
For India, star batsman Sarfraz Khan, proved his worth and scored 51 runs off 89 balls. This was his fifth 50 of the tournament, the joint highest by any batsman in an U-19 World Cup. Mahipal Lomror and Rahul Batham also chipped in with some useful runs, but they were eventually bowled out for 145 in the 46<sup>th over.
In reply, West Indies also floundered at the start and at one point they were struggling at 75 for 5, with spinner Mayank Dagar bamboozling the batsman, taking three wickets on the trot. Just when India thought they had the game in control, Keacy Carty and Keemo Paul put on a match winning 69-run partnership to take the Windies home. Carty remained not out on 52, while Paul scored 40 runs.
The Caribbean side last played in a final of the U19 World Cup in 2004, losing to eventual winners Pakistan. The loss ended India's 15-match unbeaten streak, the boys in blue last lost a youth one-day international in 2014 when they exited at the quarter-final stage of the same tournament.
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