Vaibhav Sooryavanshi broke a series of records and powered India to a comfortable win in the U19 World Cup 2026 final against England. The left-hander hammered a 80-ball 175 as India ended with a monstrous total of 411, the highest-ever in an U19 World Cup final. England did put up a fight but kept losing too many wickets, thereby handing India a 100-run win that took them to their sixth title in this format.
India's record-breaking total of 411 was set up by Sooryavanshi who decimated England's bowlers with aplomb in a display of earth-shattering ball-striking. The southpaw brought up his century off just 55 balls and also became the youngest centurion in U19 World Cup history, overtaking Babar Azam's long-standing record. There were plenty of other records set up by Sooryavanshi in his stellar knock.
Sooryavanshi also had two superb partnerships, a 142-run stand with skipper Ayush Mhatre (53 off 51) and a partnership of 89 with Vedant Trivedi (32 off 36). When Sooryavanshi fell, India's score read 251 in the 26th over and England players seemed to be at the point of no return already. The English bowlers did a decent job in the back end but Sooryavanshi's assault had already done the damage.
Abhigyan Kundu (40 off 31) and Kanishk Chouhan (37* off 20) ensured that Sooryavanshi's antics didn't go in vain, and took India past the intimidating 400-run mark. It needed a historic chase from England, a chase where everything had to go right from the get-go. Unfortunately for them, that wasn't the case.
The run rate was fine throughout the chase as England's batters showed great intent but what they needed was a couple of big partnerships or one set batter making a gigantic score like Sooryavanshi. Ben Dawkins (66 off 56) and Ben Mayes (45 off 28) both looked good to make a hundred apiece but fell against the run of play, as did skipper Thomas Rew (31 off 18), but none of three batters could bat deep.
Even as wickets kept falling, Calob Falconer (115 off 67) kept fighting with an exceptional innings. He smashed a 63-ball century and was mostly fighting a lone cause with no real support around him. For India, RS Ambrish picked up a three-fer and was the pick of the bowlers across both teams on a flat surface.
In the end, India had at least 50-60 runs too many, especially when you add the World Cup final factor to the run chase. England's batters had the ammunition to gun down a 350ish total perhaps but 411 was always going to be a massive mountain to climb. Mhatre's Indian side have managed to win the trophy through an unbeaten run - a dominant performance indeed.