Indian U19 team’s captain Uday Saharan felt their preparations were spot-on, but lamented their lack of execution following a 79-run loss to Australia in the final in Benoni on Sunday. However, the right-handed batter said he is equally proud of his teammates for the way they performed throughout the competition.

While India and Australia both headed into the final unbeaten, the former came up short in the final. Batting first, Australia made a competitive 253 after useful contributions from numerous batters. They were also sensational on the field, giving India almost nothing away and bowled them out for 174 in 43.5 overs.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Saharan, who himself registered a single-figure score, believes Indian batters played some poor shots today, but that the tournament is an excellent learning curve for them.

“I’m proud of the boys, they played really well. Showed good fighting spirit throughout the tournament. We played a few rash shots today, didn’t spend time in the middle. We were prepared but couldn’t execute the plans. Lots of learnings from this tournament, learnt a lot from the support staff and even during the games. We will try to keep learning and getting better.”