India Outclass Australia To Claim Record 4th Under-19 World Cup Title
Tauranga (New Zealand): Promising opener Manjot Kalra played a starring role with an unbeaten century as India overpowered Australia by eight wickets in the final to claim the ICC U19 World Cup for a record fourth time here on Saturday.
The opener batted through the innings and remained unbeaten on 101 runs off 102 deliveries as the Indians romped past the modest target of 217 runs with 67 balls to spare.
Harvik Desai played an excellent supporting role at the other end and was not out on 47 runs off 61 balls.
Desai brought up the title win in style, smashing a boundary off Australian pacer Will Sutherland through the off-side.
Kalra was adjudged the man of the match while compatriot Shubman Gill took home the player of the tournament award.
"Great feeling. Enjoyed a lot. Conditions were very good. It was a flat wicket to bat on. In the team, it's been a great environment," an overjoyed Kalra told the media after the final.
India thus became the first nation to win the ICC U19 World Cup four times. They had earlier won the title in 2000, 2008 and 2012.
Australia are second on the list with three titles.
This is the second time that India have defeated Australia in the final. They had earlier defeated the boys from Down Under in the final of the 2012 edition.
Chasing a modest target, India got their chase off to a flying start with Manjot and skipper Prithvi Shaw piling up 71 runs for the opening stand.
India's chase was briefly halted by rain after just four overs, but Manjot and Prithvi ensured that they maintained their focus and after coming back they batted out the initial few overs before cutting loose.
But just when the Indian pair threatened to take the match away, pacer Will Sutherland drew first blood for the Australians by rattling Shaw's off-stump.
The Indian skipper scored 29 runs off 41 deliveries with four hits to the fence.
Shaw's dismissal brought in the centurion of the semi-final against Pakistan, Man-of-the-Tournament Shubman Gill, who raised 60 runs for the second wicket with Manjot before perishing to off-spinner Param Uppal on the personal score of 31.
This was unfortunately Gill's first below-50 score in the tournament but wicketkeeper-batsman Harvik Desai ensured that there were no more hiccups in India's road to the title.
With India just five runs shy of the title, Manjot got to his personal landmark, punching one down to square leg for a single even as the celebrations began on the sidelines with the Rahul Dravid-led side romping home in 38.5 overs.
Earlier, electing to bat after winning the toss, Australia rode on Jonathan Merlo's steady 102-ball 76 -- laced with six boundaries -- to set up a modest 216-run total.
Australia lost their three top batsmen with just 59 runs on the board, thanks to pacer Ishan Porel's twin strikes early on.
Porel's victims included the openers Max Bryant (14) and Jack Edwards (28) before fellow fast bowler Kamlesh Nagarkoti joined the party by removing Australian skipper Jason Sangha for an unlucky 13 off 24 balls.
Thereafter, Merlo and Param Uppal (34) steadied the innings with a 75-run fourth wicket stand which saw them going past the 100-run mark.
Left-arm spinner Anukul Roy ended Uppal's 58-ball stay with a brilliant catch in his own follow through.
With Australia tottering at 134/4, Merlo was joined by Nathan McSweeney (23).
The pair added 49 runs for the fifth wicket before McSweeney met the same fate as Uppal, this time caught and bowled by the other Indian spinner Shiva Singh.
Despite losing his partners at the other end, Merlo continued to torment the Indians, raising his maiden half century off 60 balls by chopping a slower delivery from Porel for a single to sweeper cover.
Merlo, however, succumbed under the pressure of scoring quick runs, when he attempted a reverse sweep off Roy only to manage a top-edge for Shiva to grab at sweeper cover, even as Australia's hopes were dashed after losing the last five wickets for just 33 runs.
For the boys-in-blue, Ishan Porel, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shiva Singh and Anukul Roy took two wickets each while Shivam Mavi grabbed one.
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Ballari violence: Were cops made scapegoats to cover political failure?
Bengaluru: Across Karnataka, a serious discussion has begun after the violence in Ballari and the swift action taken against police officers who were on the ground that day. The core question being asked is simple: when law and order fails, why are police officers the first to be shown the door, while political responsibility is quietly pushed aside?
The January 1 clash in Ballari was not a sudden street fight. It was a political confrontation involving supporters of two sitting MLAs. A banner related to the unveiling of a Valmiki statue became the flashpoint. What followed was stone-pelting, firing, and the death of a Congress worker. The situation spiralled within hours.
Within a day, Ballari SP Pavan Nejjur was suspended. Soon after, senior officers were reshuffled. Deputy Inspector General of Police Vartika Katiyar was transferred. No official reason was cited in the notification. But the timing made one thing clear: accountability, at least on paper, had been fixed.
Since then, there has been unease within police circles and political debate outside it.
Unconfirmed reports that Nejjur attempted suicide after his suspension were firmly denied by senior officers and the home minister. They said he was safe, resting, and under stress. Still, the very fact that such reports gained traction says something about the pressure officers feel when action is taken overnight, without public clarity.
Opposition leaders have called Nejjur a scapegoat, pointing out that he had taken charge only hours before the violence. They have asked how an officer can be blamed for a political clash he barely had time to assess. They have also drawn parallels with earlier incidents where police leadership was suspended after tragedies, while political decision-making remained untouched.
However, responding to this criticism, Home Minister G Parameshwara rejected the argument that the suspension was unfair because Nejjur had assumed charge only hours earlier. “It is not important whether he reported to duty on the same day (of incident) or one hour back. Duty is duty. He is not new to the department. IPS officers are trained to handle such situations any time. If he had acted swiftly and promptly, he could have prevented the situation from escalating.” He had said adding that Nejjur did not discharge his duties properly and that this was the reason for his suspension.
Now, fresh and unconfirmed reports suggest that Vartika Katiyar may have met a senior cabinet minister, questioning why she was made to pay the price for a situation that was political in nature. There is no official confirmation of this meeting. But the talk itself has added fuel to the debate.
What is being discussed in the state is not whether the police made mistakes. Many acknowledge that the situation on January 1 was mishandled. A clash earlier in the day was allowed to cool down without strong preventive action. Later, a banner came up near a politically sensitive location. The crowd should not have been allowed to build up. Better anticipation was needed.
At the same time, critics are asking whether the entire burden can be placed on officers when the trigger itself was political rivalry. Who installed the banner? Who mobilised supporters? Who had armed private gunmen present at the spot? These are questions that are still part of the investigation, yet administrative punishment moved faster than political accountability.
This has led to a wider comparison with past incidents, including the Bengaluru stampede after the RCB victory celebrations. There too, police officers were suspended after lives were lost, while decisions taken at higher levels were defended as unavoidable. Many are now saying Ballari fits into the same pattern.
The argument being made is not that the police are blameless. The argument is that responsibility appears to stop at the uniform. When things go wrong, officers are transferred or suspended to send a message. But when the violence is rooted in political rivalry, that message feels incomplete.
Within police ranks, there is also quiet concern about working conditions. Officers say they are expected to manage volatile political situations overnight, often with little room to push back against powerful interests. When things hold, they are invisible. When they collapse, they stand alone.
The Ballari episode has once again exposed this fault line.
For the government, the challenge is larger than one suspension or transfer. The real test is whether it is willing to publicly acknowledge political failures when law and order breaks down, instead of letting the system suggest that the police alone dropped the ball.
For now, what remains is a growing feeling across Karnataka that accountability is selective. And that whenever politics turns violent, the easiest answer is to change the officers, not the decisions that led to the violence in the first place.
