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India beat Australia comprehensively by six wickets in the final of the Under-19 World Cup played here on Sunday, thanks to a brilliant unbeaten century by skipper Unmukht Chand. Chand scored 111 not out with seven fours and six sixes of a 130 deliveries. He was ably assisted by Smit K. Patel, who remained unbeaten on 62 of 84 deliveries with four boundaries. India, replying to Australia’s score of 225 for the loss of eight wickets in 50 overs, did not get off to a good start, losing the wicket of opener P. Chopra for nought at a score of two. After Chopra’s exit, Chand and one-drop batsman Baba Aparajith of Tamil Nadu had 73 runs for the second wicket, before Aparajith was caught and bowled by A.J. Turner for 33. Aparajith’s knowck had five boundaries and was scored off 38 deliveries. India then suffered two reverses, losing middle order batsmen G.H. Vihari and Vijay Zol when the score read 82 and 97 respectively. It was then, that skipper Chand took control of the match in the company of S.K. Patel, and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 130, taking India to a memorable victory, that seemed far fetched at the start, given Australia ’s unbeaten run in the tournament till the finals. For Australia , its top four bowlers -- J.S. Paris, M.T. Steketee, G.S. Sandhu and A.J. Turner – claimed a wicket each. Earlier, Australian skipper William Bosisto forged two consecutive half-century partnerships with Travis Head and Ashton Turner to steer Australia to a competitive 225 for the loss of eight wickets in the World Cup final, after they were left floundering at 38 for 4 in the morning. Bosisto, who scored an unbeaten 87, was the anchor once again, while Head and Turner were more aggressive. Bosisto finished unbeaten for the fifth time in six innings, ending the tournament with an average of 276. Bosisto walked off the field exhausted to back-slaps from all of his team-mates; the Indians went into the lunch break knowing their batsmen would have to pull off the highest successful chase at Tony Ireland Stadium to win the World Cup. They had started the final superbly by taking four early wickets, but as the Australians regrouped their standards in the field slipped. When Bosisto dived to complete his 87th run off the final ball, he had given India a much tougher task than seemed possible after the first hour. India had won the toss for the first time at this venue and Sandeep struck with his fourth delivery. Jimmy Peirson shouldered arms to an in-swinger that hit off stump, and Sandeep celebrated with the nonchalance of a man who's made an early wicket a habit. In his second over, Sandeep had the other opener Cameron Bancroft lbw, reducing Australia to 8 for 2. The other new-ball bowler Kamal Passi wasn't as successful. He gave the batsmen too much width and Meyrick Buchanan got off the mark with a classic square drive. Kurtis Patterson also got going off Passi with two drives to the off-side boundary. At the end of their first spells, Sandeep had figures of 5-2-8-2 and Passi 4-0-24-0. Unmukt Chand brought on off-spinner Baba Aparajith in the 11th over, and he went round the wicket immediately to the left-hand batsman Kurtis Patterson and bowled him. In the next, Ravikant drew an edge from Buchanan and Australia were 38 for 4. William Bosisto and Head had to rescue the innings, like they had against England and Bangladesh . They had barely got started when Head, on 5, cut Ravikant to point where Akshdeep Nath dropped a straightforward chance. Head went on to pull Passi for four before hitting Ravikant for consecutive boundaries in the 18th over to give Australia some momentum. He was lucky to survive an lbw appeal from Aparajith on 20 and went on to score 37 out of a 65-run stand with Bosisto, who was as solid as he's been in all of Australia 's previous games. The partnership ended in a run out, after Harmeet Singh had moved swiftly to his left at point to intercept a Bosisto cut and threw at the non-striker's end. Head had run a long way down and was a few inches short when Aparajith broke the stumps even though he dived desperately. Australia were 103 for 5 in the 30th over. The mix-up did not fluster Bosisto, who forged another half-century partnership with the off-spinner Turner, who was dropped on 2 when he tried to cut Aparajith and gave Smit Patel a reflex chance. Passi returned for a third spell in the 35th over but his day did not improve. Bosisto pulled a short ball, it had taken him 71 balls to hit his first boundary. Until then, Bosisto had simply done what he's good at, blocking most of the time and pushing the ball into gaps for singles. Chand turned to Sandeep soon after but the first over of his second spell went for 12 runs,with Turner steering and driving to the point and cover boundary. Australia were building momentum towards the finish. Bosisto picked up speed, sweeping both spinners and driving Sandeep for boundaries, to score 59 off his last 50 balls. Turner began to attack as well. He swung Sandeep for a huge six over the midwicket boundary - the bowler's last five overs went for 46 runs - but was caught at cover soon after. Bosisto, however, remained unbeaten. For India , Sandeep Sharma claimed four wickets for 54 of his ten overs. Aparajith claimed a wicket for 31 runs. This is India ’s third World Cup victory at the Under-19 level, having won it last in 2008 and 1998. Chand was declared the Man of the Match, while Australian skipper William Bosisto was declared the Player of the Series.

India win U-19 World Cup; Australia loses by six wickets