NEW DELHI: India captain Ayush Mhatre opted to bat after winning the toss in the Under-19 World Cup final against England at Harare Sports Club in Harare on Friday. India have retained the same team while England replaced Alex French with Alex Green.
Mhatre described the pitch as ideal for batting and said the team will play their natural, straightforward game.
"It looks like a very good pitch, really hard and we will try to put up a good target. It is a batting pitch and the batters showed good batsmanship which was nice for us. We will play our natural game, not complicate it too much and keep it simple," Mhatre said after winning the toss.
India, aiming for a record-extending sixth title, have reached the final in every edition since 2016, marking their sixth consecutive appearance and underscoring their dominance at this level.
In the five previous tournaments, India have lifted the trophy on alternate occasions, with their most recent triumph coming in 2022.
Playing XIs
India: Aaron George, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Ayush Mhatre(c), Vihaan Malhotra, Vedant Trivedi, Abhigyan Kundu(w), RS Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan Patel, Henil Patel, Deepesh Devendran
England: Ben Dawkins, Joseph Moores, Ben Mayes, Thomas Rew(w/c), Caleb Falconer, Ralphie Albert, Farhan Ahmed, Sebastian Morgan, James Minto, Manny Lumsden, Alex Green
