India featuring Vaibhav Suryavanshi will take on England in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2026 final in Harare on Friday.
Published: February 5, 2026 1:56 PM IST
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“It seemed like India came prepared mentally to finish it off quickly. It was a massive win. It’s a thumping win, there’s no doubt about it, especially given the pressure of a semi-final. But the way Vaibhav Suryavanshi played, and the way Aaron George played, showed that this Indian batting line-up has a lot of firepower. Getting them out won’t be easy. They would have made even England sweat after such a performance. Because when you chase down a big score in such a manner, you instil fear in other teams’ minds. England would be thinking, ‘How do we get this line-up out?’
“You have Vaibhav Suryavanshi in cracking form, Aaron scoring runs in the semi-final, captain Ayush Mhatre coming back into form, and then there is Vedant, who didn’t have much to do in this game. Vihaan is in good form, and Kanishk has done well too. I think India have a real chance of winning this World Cup,” Sodhi said.
Sodhi went on to compare Suryavanshi to world No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma from Kavya Maran’s Sunrisers Hyderabad team. “He is fabulous. This is a different level of batting. This was a knock played under huge pressure. A target of 311 could have been difficult. Vaibhav Suryavanshi was the key to this run chase. If he plays well, then we’ll win the game, and that’s exactly what happened. He hits even the good balls for sixes. The bowler would be thinking, where does he bowl to him? When the ball leaves your hand, you think it has come out nicely, pitched in the right spot, swung, but when it hits the bat, it goes straight into the stands. “This is what Suryavanshi does, and it will be impossible to stop him in his current form. However, I would urge him to remember it’s a 50-over contest and to take one or two extra balls. He could have scored 150–175 on this pitch the way he was going. But he will learn that. He is slowly becoming a junior Abhishek Sharma, but he is still very young. If he keeps improving, he will go miles and miles ahead,” Sodhi, who was deputy under Mohammad Kaif when India won the crown in 2000, said. Former India Under-19 World Cup-winning captain Unmukt Chand analysed the Indian team’s chances of potentially winning their sixth title. “India have a 100 per cent chance of winning, the way they are playing. I think this is a very good team. More than anything else, I think this is a very complete team. The way they have played throughout the tournament, they deserve to win. In my time, we might not have been the best team, but we still won. Under the able leadership of Ayush, and with contributions from everyone else, I can’t single out one or two players because everyone has been important and played their part in this campaign up to the semi-finals. I am sure this final is going to be very interesting,” Chand felt.In a pursuit of chasing a massive total, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is making his impact in the middle!
Will he continue to flourish and guide Team India in the finals? #ICCMensU19WC | Semi-Final 2 | #INDvAFG LIVE NOW ➡️ https://t.co/BH7PyKi0Hq pic.twitter.com/7oiF9miweQ — Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 4, 2026
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