Under-19 World Cup final: Chand leads Indian run chase against Australia

August 26, 2012

unmukt

New Delhi, August 26: Captain Unmukt Chand hit his fifth half-century to lead the Indian run chase against Australia in the Under-19 World Cup final at Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville on Sunday.

Gurinder Sandhu gave Australia the second breakthrough when he had Baba Aparajith caught by Ashton Turner in the covers.

Aparajith hit 5 fours in his 38-ball 33 and added 75 runs with Chand for the second wicket.

Mark Steketee gave Australia the first breakthrough when he had Prashant Chopra caught behind by Jimmy Peirson for a duck.

Earlier, India frittered away the early advantage as defending champions Australia recovered from a shaky start to post a competitive 225/8.

Electing to field after winning the toss amid overcast conditions, the Indians had the Aussies on the mat at 38/4 before host skipper William Bosisto (87 not out) rebuilt the innings with the help of some notable contributions down the order.

Both teams named the same XIs that had got them through the knockouts. While Australia, aiming for a fourth title, entered the final undefeated, India had lost one game in the first group stage to the West Indies.

Sandeep Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for India, grabbing four wickets in his 10 overs that conceded 54 runs and included a couple of maidens.

In conditions that have favoured bowlers all through the tournament, two-time winners India could not have asked for a better start as Sharma struck in his very first over.

He removed both the openers -- Cameron Bancroft (2) and Jimmy Peirson (0) -- in his first spell itself. The Oz team was looking down the barrel as a couple of more wickets fell in quick succession.

However, Bosisto took charge of the proceedings and gradually steadied the ship sharing a 65-run fifth wicket stand with Travis Head (37) to start with.

But the Indians managed to get back when Harmeet Singh and Baba Aparajith combined to run out Head after a mix-up between the two batsmen.

Head took off for a single from the non-strikers end, but was sent back by Bosisto. Harmeet moved quickly to pick up the ball and threw it to Aparajith, who ran out Head.

Head's 56-ball knock included five fours. The Indians, however, let slip the advantage once again as Bosisto found another able partner in Ashton Turner (43). Together the duo accelerated the scoring rate and put on 93 runs for the sixth wicket.

Turner was the more aggressive of the two batsmen, sending down three boundaries and a six during his 50-ball knock before becoming Sharma's third victim of the match.

The Aussie score read 196/6 at that stage and it wasn't long before the Indians managed to send the tail back to the pavillion.

But Bosisto held fort at one end and his 120-ball patient innings included six boundaries.

More importantly, the skipper managed to take his team past the 200-mark, which gave the Aussies the crucial psychological edge as most of the games so far have been low-scoring thrillers.

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News Network
March 22,2024

IPL.jpg

The start of the world’s most lucrative cricket tournament in India is presenting investors with another big opportunity to cash in on the sport, months after the world’s most populous nation hosted the Cricket World Cup.

The eight-week long Indian Premier League begins March 22 for its 17th season. Since its inception, the fast-paced cricket tournament has become a corporate juggernaut to rival the National Football League in the US and the English Premier League in value.

Just as October’s Cricket World Cup boosted consumption in India for months, fans are expected to flock to restaurants, pubs and food delivery platforms over the duration of the tournament. This year’s IPL also coincides with general elections that will last for six weeks starting April 19, a period when companies are expecting higher food and drink sales as people flock to rallies and other events.

“There’s going to be a lot of spending,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda. “IPL, as well as the election, gives a three-month corridor with enhanced economic activity.”

Stocks in India such as McDonald’s franchise operator Westlife Foodworld Ltd. and peer Sapphire Foods India Ltd. gained ahead of the first match on Friday, as well as hotels and beverage makers. Packaged-food companies could also stand to benefit from the IPL craze, said Sachil Bobade, an analyst at investment firm Dolat Capital Market.

The IPL ecosystem was valued at $11 billion (Rs 91,721 crores) in 2023, including the value of media rights and sponsorships, according to Indian valuation consulting firm D&P Advisory.

The league is also attracting record sums of money from sponsors and broadcasters. Conglomerate Tata Group won the title sponsorship rights of the tournament in January for a record 25 billion rupees ($300 million). Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media venture secured the digital streaming rights in 2022 for five years for $2.7 billion, while Walt Disney Co. paid roughly the same for TV rights.

“There was a serious amount of bidding even this year,” said Vinit Karnik, head of entertainment, esports and sports at media agency GroupM South Asia. “I see growth in IPL in double digits year-on-year,” he adds.

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