Harare. The Indian team faced England in the final of the ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2026 on Friday (6 February). In this match held at Harare Sports Club in Harare, the Indian team won the toss by 100 runs. Thanks to the stormy innings of Vaibhav Suryavanshi (175 runs), India gave a huge target of 412 runs to England. Chasing the target, the England team was reduced to 311 runs in 40.2 overs. With this, the Indian team won the Under-19 World Cup for a record sixth time.
The Indian team had previously won the Under-19 World Cup title in 2000, 2008, 2012, 2018 and 2022. This was the sixth consecutive and 10th overall final of the Indian team. On the other hand, England has won the Under-19 World Cup only once. It defeated New Zealand in the final of 1998. England did not have a good start in the run chase and lost the wicket of Joseph Moores (17 runs) cheaply. After this, Ben Dawkins and Ben Mays added 74 runs for the second wicket. Khilan Patel broke this partnership by dismissing Mess. Mes scored 45 runs in 27 balls, which included seven fours and two sixes. The Indian team got its third success in the form of English captain Thomas Reve, who was out after scoring 31 runs. Opener Ben Dawkins scored a half-century, but he could not last long after that. Ayush Mhatre took the wicket of Dawkins. Dawkins contributed 66 runs in 56 balls with the help of 7 fours and 2 sixes. Ralphie Albert (0 runs) and Farhan Ahmed (1 run) and Sebastian Morgan (0 runs) could not do anything special. At the time of Morgan’s dismissal, England’s score was 177-7.
Falconer scored a century for the English team
From here Caleb Falconer and James Minto added 92 runs for the eighth wicket. RS Ambareesh broke this partnership by dismissing Minto (28 runs). Then Ambareesh also dismissed Manny Lumsden (3 runs). Caleb Faulkner struggled alone and was out after scoring 115 runs. Falconer hit 9 fours and 7 sixes in his innings of 67 balls. RS Ambareesh took three wickets for India. Deepesh Devendran also got two successes.
India’s innings
In the match, Indian captain Ayush Mhatre won the toss and chose to bat first. Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Aaron George came to open for India. The pair of Vaibhav and George could not do much. George’s wicket fell on the score of 20. He returned after scoring 9 runs. He was caught at point. After this, Ayush Mhatre started batting with Vaibhav. The Indian team crossed the mark of 50 runs in 8 overs. After this, Vaibhav scored 18 runs in the ninth over, due to which the Indian team’s score became 71 runs in 9 overs. Meanwhile, the Indian team’s 100 runs were completed in the 14th over. Vaibhav took notice of spinner Farhan Ahmed in the 17th over and scored 22 runs in his over. On the other hand, Ayush Mhatre was out in the 19th over on the ball of Alex Green after scoring 53 runs in 50 balls. After Ayush was out, Vaibhav completed his century with the help of 8 sixes and 8 fours in 55 balls. After this the storm of glory continued. Completed 150 runs (13 sixes, 13 fours) in 71 balls. However, after this Vaibhav’s innings ended at 175 runs. Vaibhav faced 80 balls in his innings and hit a total of 15 fours and 15 sixes, he was caught by Thomas Reve off the bowling of Manny Lumsden. The team’s fourth wicket fell in the form of Vihaan Malhotra (30). He was caught by James Minto at the hands of Ben Dawkins. This wicket fell on the score of 302. Only after this the 5th wicket fell at the score of 308. Vedant Trivedi (32) was caught by Ben Mays on the ball of James Minto. Abhigyan Kundu (40) was out in the 45th over. The team suffered its sixth setback at 359 runs. Kundu was caught by Ralphie Albert off the ball of Sebastian Morgan. 7th wicket fell at 367. RS Ambareesh (18) was bowled by Minto. Khilan Petal (3) was out on the score of 375 in the 47th over. The team lost the 8th wicket. Joseph Moors took the catch. Sebastian Morgan got this wicket. Heinil Petal (5) was run out in the 49th over. The 9th wicket fell at the score of 393. Ultimately, India scored a huge score of 411/9 runs in the stipulated 50 overs. Kanishk Chauhan (37) and Deepesh Devendran (0) returned unbeaten.
