Benoni, Feb 12 (IANS): India skipper Uday Saharan admitted that his batters faltered in the Men’s U19 World Cup final against Australia due to playing rash shots and being unable to nail their execution, leading to them crashing to a 79-run defeat at the Willowmoore Park

Both India and Australia were unbeaten throughout the competition ahead of the title clash on Sunday. Australia posted 253/8 in their 50 overs, thanks to a half-century from Harjas Singh and other notable contributors being Harry Dixon, captain Hugh Weibgen, and Oliver Peake.

In reply, India, the defending champions, suffered an early collapse to be left in trouble at 68/4 in the 20th over. Left-handed Adarsh Singh (47) and lower-order batting all-rounder Murugan Abhishek (42) put up some resistance, but it wasn’t enough as India were bowled out for 174 in 43.5 overs.

"It was fine. We played a few rash shots and couldn't spend some time on the surface. We were prepared for it but we couldn't execute well. That is where we went wrong," said Saharan after the match ended.

Though India finished as runners-up, Saharan praised his team for their dominant run in the tournament. "It was great, I am very proud of the boys, they played very well. The entire team, from the start to the end, showed fighting spirit. They played very well and I am proud of them."

Saharan also signed off as the leading run-getter of the competition, amassing 397 runs in seven games at an average of 56.71, including a century and three fifties. He added that he wants to take the learnings from this competition for progressing forward in his cricketing career.

"There have been a lot of learnings, right from the start to now. I have learnt a lot from the staff and even during the match, have learnt so much. I just want to take all the learnings from this tournament and move forward in my career."