ICC U19 World Cup 2022: Raj Bawa Knows What To Do In Crunch Situations – Yash Dhull

Team India U19 skipper Yash Dhull revealed that Raj Bawa worked very hard to improve his bowling throughout the tournament.

On Saturday in Antigua, the Indian Colts clinched their fifth title after they eked out the England U19 team by four wickets in the final of ICC U19 World Cup 2022.

India bags fifth U19 World Cup title

All-rounder Raj Bawa starred in the most important match of his life with both bat and ball. After England won the toss and opted to bat first, Bawa and Ravi Kumar ran through England’s batting order.

Ravi picked two wickets in his first two overs, including that of England skipper Tom Prest for a duck.

Bawa sent back England opener George Thomas on the first ball of the 11th over as skipper Yash Dhull took a dolly at the covers.

Bawa got successive wickets of Will Luxton and George Bell in the 13th over before he got Rehan Ahmed in the 17th.

As Bawa kept chipping wickets at regular intervals, England were tattered at 91 for seven in 25 overs. Left-handed batter James Rew helped his side to escape a shambolic total in the final.

Rew joined forces with James Sales and the duo put up 93 runs for the eighth-wicket stand, the latter’s contribution was 31 in that alliance. Rew was dismissed in the 44th over by Ravi Kumar, thanks to an excellent catch by Kaushal Tambe.

England were bowled out for 189 in the first innings as Bawa completed his match-winning bowling figures with 5/31.

India lost opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi for a second-ball duck but fifties by Shaik Rasheed and Nishant Sandhu set the track for them.

Bawa scored 35 off 54 balls in his 67-run stand with Nishant, Indian wicket-keeper Dinesh Bana launched consecutive sixes to Sales as India chased the tricky score in 47.4 overs.

Raj Bawa is very strong mentally: Yash Dhull

Indian skipper Dhull heaped praise over the all-rounder Bawa’s brilliant performance and acknowledged his efforts in improving his game after an unpleasant start to the tournament.

“He is very strong mentally, he knows what to do in crunch situations, and he is very confident about his game,” Dhull said in the post-match press conference.

“He is a bit different. While we have been enjoying ourselves, he has been focusing on his bowling in a big way, spending more time at training, speaking to the coaches, speaking to VVS (Laxman) sir. So the improvement showed,” Dhull added.

South Africa U19 team batter Dewald Brevis, who accumulated 506 runs from six innings at an impressive average of 84.33, bagged the player of the tournament award.

Also Read: ICC U19 World Cup: Virat Kohli Gave Us His Best Wishes For The Final, Says Captain Yash Dhull