Australia have done it again! Hugh Weibgen and Co ended up outclassing strong favourites India in the final of the 2024 U-19 World Cup in Benoni on Sunday, winning the youth tournament for a fourth-time in 15 editions in the process and beating the Indians at this stage of the tournament for the first time in three attempts.
India were heavily favoured to become the first team since Pakistan to win back-to-back U-19 world titles, given how the Uday Saharan-led side had dominated their opponents in the group stage and in the Super Sixes. As has been the case with Indian teams in ICC events of late however, they ended up falling short in the match that mattered the most, with their batting department crumbling under sustained pressure from the pace-heavy Australian attack.
Sunday’s result at Benoni’s Willowmoore Park doesn’t really put the Indian U-19 team in the same category as their senior counterparts. The ‘Boys in Blue’ have emerged winners on at least two occasions after having reached each of the last five World Cup finals. The senior men’s team hasn’t won a major global event since the 2013 Champions Trophy in England while the women are yet to taste success at a global level even if they have won multiple editions of the Asia Cup.
Australia, however, are a different breed altogether, and perhaps are the very definition of success when it comes to the sport of cricket in particular. Not only have they narrowed the gap with India in terms of U-19 world titles with a fourth victory, needing just one more triumph to go level with the ‘Boys in Blue’, they also are the most successful team in the history of the sport.
The Australian men, after all, have won the ICC World Cup, cricket’s showpiece event, a total of six times besides winning the Champions Trophy twice and the T20 World Cup once. And last year, they became the first team to win all the ICC trophies on offer by beating India in the final of the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle at The Oval.
The Aussies are even more dominant in the women’s game — they have won the Women’s World Cup eight times in 12 editions and happen to be the defending champions at present. They have also won the T20 World Cup on six occasions, completing a hat-trick of titles in two different phases and head into this year’s edition in Bangladesh as the defending champions.
With their victory in the U-19 Men’s World Cup, Australia are now the title holders in every global cricketing event out there except the men’s T20 World Cup and the U-19 Women’s World Cup, which are currently held by England and Australia respectively.