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Australia pacer Tom Straker warned Team India that a lot of bouncers will be used on what looks to be a bouncy Benoni surface during the final of the ICC U19 World Cup final.
India is taking on Australia in the title clash of the U19 World Cup in Benoni. This is India's fifth successive U19 World Cup final appearance and their third against the Aussies. Australia has never defeated India in a U19 World Cup final. If India manages to topple Australia, they will win the title for the sixth time, while Australia will win it for the fourth time. Straker, who took 6/24 during a low-scoring, thrilling semifinal against Pakistan, said that the team will be looking to make the best use of bounce on the surface and trouble India with their bouncers after "having scared a few teams" in the tournament. He also said that fellow pacers Callum Vidler and Mahli Beardman love their "bumpers," referring to bouncers. "We have a pretty good bowling attack. We've scared a few teams during this tournament and hopefully, we do the same to India in the final," said Straker, as quoted by cricket.com.au. "The pitch here is a bit bouncy too. As you have seen throughout the tournament, we use our bouncers a lot so that will be part of our game plan." "All the boys here, especially Mahli and Vidler, love a bumper... we are Australian fast bowlers, and of course, we love a bumper, so I am sure there will be plenty of those," he concluded. This is India's third U19 World Cup final against Australia, having won the previous title clashes in 2012 and 2018. Despite this losing streak against India, Straker said that the Australian side was looking to play the final against India. The pacer said that the battle between Indian batting and Australian bowling will be great. "When the draw came out, we had a quick look at it and thought if everything goes to plan, hopefully we are in the final and we were always hoping it would be India in the final as well," said Straker. "Their batting has been a pretty big part of their success and so has our bowling so it should be a good match-up," he added. Straker also opened up a tense semifinal against Pakistan, during which the final pair of Raf MacMillan and Callum Vidler were left with 16 runs to win in a chase of 180 runs. "We are all just looking at each other like, 'oh no'," Starker said. "But Vidler's batting is not the worst for a No. 11, so we had faith, and Raf's batted well for us, he has saved the day a before, so we were confident," he added. On breaking senior South African pacer Kagiso Rabada's record of 6/25 from the 2014 edition of the tournament during the semis, making him the bowler with the best figures in the U19 WC final four stages, Straker, also known as the "Monster Truck" within the team, said, "We had a TV in our viewing area and the commentators were talking about it, all the boys were loving it, but I was like, 'it's a good record to have' but I was not too fussed about it. It is a pretty proud moment but in the scheme of things, it does not really matter." Australia's fast bowling has been its biggest asset in the campaign, with the trio that featured against Pakistan all having a great tournament: Straker has 12 wickets at 9.25, Vidler's 12 victims have come at 10.75, and Beardman has seven scalps at 12.85. The final match between India and Australia will kick off at 1:30 PM IST. Australia U19 Squad: Harry Dixon, Sam Konstas, Hugh Weibgen (C), Harjas Singh, Ryan Hicks (Wk), Oliver Peake, Tom Campbell, Raf MacMillan, Tom Straker, Mahli Beardman, Callum Vidler, Lachlan Aitken, Charlie Anderson, Harkirat Bajwa, Corey Wasley, Aidan O Connor. India U19 Squad: Adarsh Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (C), Priyanshu Moliya, Sachin Dhas, Aravelly Avanish (Wk), Murugan Abhishek, Raj Limbani, Naman Tiwari, Saumy Pandey, Aaradhya Shukla, Ansh Gosai, Dhanush Gowda, Rudra Patel, Prem Devkar, Mohamed Amaan, Innesh Mahajan. (ANI)
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