West Indies colts have edged past favourites India in a thrilling final to win their maiden Under-19 World Cup title.
Put in to bat first, three-time champions India were skittled out for a below-par 145 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday.
The match rolled to the last over but the Caribbean boys went over the line with three balls and five wickets to spare.
Keacy Carty cracked a match-winning 52 not out alongside Keemo Paul (40 not out).
But their team were off to a poor start losing both openers Gidron Pope (3) and Tevin Imlach (15) within eight overs.
Reduced to 28 for 2, skipper Shimron Hetmyer (23) and Carty began a recovery with a 39-run stand for the third wicket.
Left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar brought the breakthrough for India as Hetmyer holed out at long-off in the 23rd over.
Indians tried to pull things back with Dagar dismissing Shamar Springer (3) and Jyd Goolie (3) in successive overs to leave the West Indies wobbling on 77 for 5 in the 29th over.
But Man-of-the-Match Carty and Paul then soaked in the pressure. India were poor on the field, dropping Paul twice and Carty once.
But both the batsmen kept their calm and put 69 runs on the scoreboard to coast to the victory in the final over.
Dagar bagged three wickets for India.
The clash of the tournament’s best bowling attack and most prolific batting line-up was under the spotlight in the morning on a green top.
But the West Indies produced a superlative performance as groundwork for the victory.
India stumbled in Alzarri Joseph’s first over when they lost opener Rishabh Pant (1) in the fourth ball off an under-arm throw from wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach.
Both Joseph and his new-ball partner Chemar Holder extracted good pace and bounce from the pitch, allowing little room for the batsmen to free their hands.
Joseph struck again in his next over, dismissing Anmolpreet Singh (3). The 19-year-old pacer trapped India skipper Ishan Kishan (4) in front soon after.
Sarfaraz Khan (51) looked to turn things around after three early wickets but quick returns of Washington Sundar (7) and Armaan Jaffer (5) had India tottering on 50 for 5 in the 18th over.
With the wickets falling in clusters, Sarfaraz moved towards yet another half-century as his partners fell at the other end.
Mahipal Lomror (19), in at six, played a good hand to support Sarfaraz but Holder sent the former packing with an angled delivery to bring up the lower order.
Sarfaraz tried to score some quick runs but soon fell before his team was bowled out in 45.1 overs.
Ryan John (3-38) and Alzarri Joseph (3-39) were the pick of the bowlers for the West Indies.
Source: Bd news24