Under-19 WC Final: Counter the pace, win the race

The much awaited final of the Under-19 world Cup will be underway on Sunday, the 26th of August at Townsville. It’s the hosts Australia who meet India at the tricky Tony Ireland stadium. Even the old lady who passes by the Tony Ireland ground during her regular evening stroll will tell you that whichever team is going to win the toss is going to bowl first. The notorious (as it has been made out to be in the follow-up to the finals) wicket has made sure that the batsmen work hard for each run and has given them absolutely no margin for error, resulting in many low-scoring affairs up till now.

However, the pitch has been fair to the bowlers in both the innings, and has given ample opportunities for teams to stage come-backs from near oblivion. It’s a matter of self-belief while playing on these tracks. The seaming conditions is bound to get the batsmen beaten time and again, but it would be wise on the part of batting teams to set themselves realistic targets.

Any ambitious move to get unrealistic targets would probably see the entire team back in the hut well within their allotted 50 overs. Going by the previous results, a team that can put up a score of around 230-250 should fancy themselves a good chance of winning the game. It’s worthy to reiterate the fact that it’s all about grit. The pitch has shown that it favours the men who are prepared to grind it out in the middle, Prashanth Chopra and Baba Aparajith being prime examples for India.

A few batsmen from both teams, on various occasions on the same ground have got to their half centuries and seen their teams post decent totals that have proven to be match winning. However, it’s no cake walk for the bowlers, especially the spinners.

We have seen A.J.Turner and Harmeet Singh do well for their respective teams, but it would be imperative for the spinners to look at keeping it tight at one end and building the pressure while not getting too aggressive. So far the bowling units have worked well and supported the strike bowlers by some neat and tight bowling. It’s been an ‘out and out’ pacers tournament this and the final match doesn’t seem to look any different.

Everybody in the batting order seems to have chipped in during one occasion or the other on both sides barring some exceptions. Chopra, Chand, Aparajith and Zol have all come good for India while Bankroft, Patterson and captain Bosisto have done the job for the Aussies. The pace trio of Sandhu, Skeete and Paris have been the backbone of the Aussie attack and are surely not going to give even a inch to the Indian top order. The same can be said of Passi, Sharma and R.Singh who seem to mirror the Aussie attack although they have proven their worth by defending very low targets for India.

The Aussies have so far been undefeated in this tournament while the Indians have beaten them in the recently concluded Quadrangular tournament. It’s to be seen who is fit enough to survive the battle of the best. It’s definitely going to be the match of the year and you can be sure of seeing some of these young guns earning their places in their national teams in the near future.