Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. (file photo) Teenage batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi continued his stature as he scored 55 in the Under-19 World Cup final against England at the Harare Sports Club on Friday.Sooryavanshi reached his hundred in the 20th over with a single off Ralphie Albert. He hit eight fours and as many sixes to reach the milestone.He went on to become the batsman with the most sixes in the Under-19 World Cup, surpassing Dewald Brevis’ previous record of 18 in 2022. Sooryavanshi also became the first batsman to hit 100 sixes in Youth ODIs.He also forged a crucial 142-run partnership with skipper Ayush Mhatra before the Indian skipper was caught in the 19th over off an Alex Green delivery.Sooryavanshi was eventually dismissed in the 26th over, but not before putting in a performance for the ages, scoring 175 runs off just 80 balls. Sooryavanshi hit a total of fifteen sixes and as many fours in his innings.Earlier, Indian captain Ayush Mhatre won the toss and elected to bat against England in the ICC U-19 World Cup final on Friday.India field an unchanged side while England have replaced Alex French with Alex Green.Both India and England were unbeaten in the tournament so far. While India defeated Asian counterparts Afghanistan by seven wickets in the semi-final, England overcame arch-rivals and the tournament’s second most successful team – Australia – by 27 runs in the semi-final.U19 World Cup Final India U19 Vs. England Under 19 Under 11:India U19 playing 11: Aaron George, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ayush Mhatre(c), Vihaan Malhotra, Vedant Trivedi, Abhigyan Kundu(w), RS Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan Patel, Henil Patel, Deepesh Devendran.England U19: Ben Dawkins, Joseph Moores, Ben Mayes, Thomas Rew (v/c), Caleb Falconer, Ralphie Albert, Farhan Ahmed, Sebastian Morgan, James Minto, Manny Lumsden, Alex Green.
