Benoni [South Africa] : Ahead of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup final against India at Willowmoore on Sunday, Australia skipper Hugh Weibgen stated that the team will take inspiration from its senior counterparts, who clinched wins over Asian giants in the final of ICC World Test Championship and ICC Cricket World Cup last year.
Australia have endured a number of stutters, which have helped the side become battle-ready before the ultimate contest. Eventually, the result will swing in the favour of the team which keeps itself collected during the big final.
Ahead of the final, Weibgen said that the team will take a lot of courage from the way their seniors played against Team India, but they will also stick to what has given them the right results.
“We take a lot of courage from the way they’ve played. It’s very inspirational to see them win. But we’ll just try to stick and do what we’ve been doing well, replicate some of the stuff that has worked for us,” said the skipper ahead of the match.
Aussies last won the U19 World Cup under the leadership of Mitchell Marsh in 2010. Even though they have faced off the ‘Boys in Blues’ twice but failed to clinch a single win.
The Aussies clinched a thrilling 1-wicket win against Pakistan in the semi-final. Weibgen-led Aussies needed four runs in the last over and Pakistan failed to defend the target.
Meanwhile, Australia are too unbeaten in their previous five matches, which will give them confidence before the final game.
Weibgen claimed that the wicket looked “different from what we saw” in the semi-final.
“The pitch looks a bit different from what we saw [in the semi-final], they have cut some grass off. [It] might play a little different from the other day, so yeah that would be interesting to see,” Weibgen said.
The skipper said that he slept really well after Australia managed to chase down the total against Pakistan by one wicket in the semis.
“Personally, I didn’t have to do a whole lot but that’s perhaps the best I’ve slept on the whole trip. I was pretty tired after watching that innings. The boys also needed a good sleep to get back, but everyone’s ready to go,” said the skipper.
The Australian skipper said that the experience of playing close and tense games and coming on the winning side of it will surely help them in the title clash.
“It is good that we’ve had a couple of close games. The close battles have put us in pressure situations, and we’ve been able to come on the right side of those situations. So I’m sure it’ll help us tomorrow,” the Aussie skipper added.
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.
