By Asia Samachar | Australia |
The crowd was delighted to see two Aussie players – Harjas Singh and Harkirat Bajwa – performing ‘thigh fives’ after their team defeated India to win the ICC U19 World Cup 2024 on Feb 10. One normally associates the move with kabaddi players.
Harjas starred in Australia’s 79-run win as he scored 55 runs in the first innings to proppel his side to 253/7, the highest score in the final of a U19 World Cup.
Off-spinner Harkirat took 4 wickets in 2 games in the tournament.
Australia dominated in all three departments of the field to defeat India by 79 runs in the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024 final in Benoni. This was also the first time that Australia beat India in the final of an ICC U19 World Cup.
Harjas Singh was the glue holding Australia’s batting line-up in the Under-19 World Cup 2024 final against a solid Indian bowling attack in Benoni, reported The Cricket Lounge.
After the sedate start given by Australia’s top three, it was Harjas Singh who took the attack to the Indians, so much that he even puzzled the generally calm Indian skipper Uday Saharan into making constant field and bowling changes to stop Harjas.
Australia found themselves in a precarious position at 99/3 in the 23rd over. However, Harjas Singh, who had had a terrible tournament until the final, counter-attacked with audacity and panache. The left-hander scored 55 runs in 64 balls, walloping 3 fours and 3 sixes, and was responsible for Australia going past at least 200 to give their bowlers a fighting chance on a wearing pitch. He was dismissed by spinner Saumy Pandey, lbw.
The family of Harjas Singh hails from Chandigarh, Punjab, and moved to Sydney in 2000. Harjas, born in 2005, grew up in Australia and began his cricket career at the local Revesby Workers Cricket Club at the age of 8.
“I still have family back in Chandigarh and Amritsar. We have a house in Sector 44-D, but the last time I was there was 2015. Thereafter, cricket took over and I never got the opportunity. My uncle still lives there,” Harjas told The Indian Express recently.
He comes from a family of sporting backgrounds. His father Inderjit Singh was a Punjab state boxing champion, and his mother Avinder Kaur was a state-level long jumper.
He trained under coach Neil D’Costa, who coached the likes of Michael Clarke, and Marnus Labuschagne.
Other than Harjas Singh, there is another Punjabi in the Australian u-19 squad, Harkirat Bajwa, who is an off-spinner who took 4 wickets in 2 games in the tournament.
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