On This Day: Prithvi Shaw-led India Win ICC Under World Cup for a Record Fourth Time in 2018

The year 2018 was a memorable one especially for Indian cricket as they lifted the Under-19 World Cup title for a record fourth time. The youngsters defeated Australia by eight wickets in the final of the tournament at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga.

The sub-continent’s U-19 team entered the final as the joint-most successful team in the history of the tournament. India had previously won the coveted trophy thrice in 2002, 2008 and 2012. However, in the 2018 edition, they created history by achieving the feat without losing a single game in the tournament. They won all of their six games including the final.

To commemorate the Indian U-19 team’s achievement the International Cricket Council (ICC) took to social media and shared a photo of a jubilant Indian team in the dressing room with the coveted cup. The ICC shared a photo of the Indian U-19 team and captioned it as,’#On this day, in 2018, India won the U19 Cricket World Cup for the fourth time’. The caption further had instances of the few key details such as, ‘Prithvi Shaw was the captain,’ Shubman Gill was adjudged as the ‘Player of the Tournament’ and even has a reference of Manjot Kalra’s superb unbeaten 101 which took the team across the line in the final.

Earlier in the historic match, batting first the Aussies piled up 216 runs. They were in a comfortable position at 183 for four before the Indian spinners engineered their collapse as they lost their last six wickets for 33 runs. Chasing a modest total, Indian openers Shaw and Kalra gave a solid start before skipper Shaw got out at 29. Kalra was then joined by the tournament’s highest run-getter Shubman Gill, the duo went on to add 60 runs for the second wicket. After Gill’s departure at 31, Kalra held the fort with wicketkeeper-batsman Harvik Desai to keep their side on top of the game. Desai and Kalra built another 50-run stand before the southpaw finally completed his century in the 39th over. In the same over Desai, finished the game off with a boundary to give India a memorable victory. Kalra remained unbeaten at 101, while Desai finished with 47 not out.

Much of the Indian U-19 team’s success goes to the coach Rahul Dravid. The former Indian skipper was instrumental in every way to guide the youngsters to a famous victory. This was also the first time Rahul Dravid lifted a World Cup.

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