IND-U19 vs AUS-U19, 2nd Youth Test — Day 3 Result: India U19 Win by 10 Wickets, Series 2-0

The match was meant to last four days. It needed less than three. Australia U19 resumed on 86 for 4, still 55 behind, with Blake Cattle and Zed Hollick at the crease and some hope that a long partnership could make India bat again for a real target. That hope did not last. Australia lost three wickets for four runs at the start of the day, Cattle fought on alone, and when he was the last man out for 63, India needed 11. They got them in five balls.

It completes a 2-0 series win, and a dominant one: an innings victory in Rajkot and now ten wickets in Ahmedabad.

Hollick added just one to his overnight 12 before Baloda trapped him lbw at 87. Soon after, Charlie Henderson, who had batted 147 balls for 37 in the first innings, was bowled by Baloda for a duck. Then Priyanshu Singh bowled Jacob Pietz, and Australia were 90 for 7, still 51 behind. Priyanshu had Thomas Vaseo lbw at 98 for the eighth.

That left Cattle with the tail. Patrick Sullivan stayed with him for 19 balls while 27 runs were added for the ninth wicket, taking Australia within 16, before Baloda had Sullivan caught by Lakshya Raichandani. Cattle hit out, reached a fighting 63 from 104 balls with eight fours and two sixes, and was finally bowled by Baloda with the score on 151. Australia's lead was ten.

Tanmay Baloda's match figures were 14 for 73: 6 for 32 in 25 overs in the first innings, 8 for 41 in 19.5 overs in the second. Three of his second-innings wickets were bowled and two lbw, which says he was attacking the stumps relentlessly, and in the first innings he had two batters stumped. He also made 28 with the bat as part of India's tail-end rally on Day 2. Across the match he bowled almost 45 overs and conceded fewer than two an over.

There are bowling performances that win matches and bowling performances that define series. This was both. Australia had no answer to him on this pitch, and by the end they were simply trying to survive his spells.

Blake Cattle was named Player of the Series with 296 runs, and his 63 here was the innings of a batter who refused to give in. He came in at 50 for 3 in the first innings and was out for 8, but in the second innings he batted 104 balls as wickets fell around him. Spencer Green, who took 7 for 110 on Day 2, will also leave with his reputation enhanced.

The lesson for Australia is about how to bat against quality spin on Indian surfaces. Twice in this match they lost wickets in clusters — four for 15 on Day 1, and three for four here — and once that happens, even good individual innings can only delay the result.

CricIntel did not publish a preview for this Youth Test, so there is no prediction to review.

India U19 have now won both Youth Tests, the first by an innings. For India's selectors, Baloda, Abhipray Biswas (73 runs and five first-innings dismissals behind the stumps) and captain Yashbardhan Chauhan (52) are the names that stood out. For Australia, Cattle and Green are the players they will build around.