Townsville, Apr 15: India beat Australia in the Quadrangular Under-19 final at Endeavour Park by seven wickets to win the series. After losing all the three league matches, the India colts were the most unlikely team to win the series. However, a much-improved performance helped them beat England in the semi-final; a day later, the dark horses beat the hosts to lift the trophy.

An unbeaten century by skipper Unmukt Chand was instrumental in setting up the victory for India. Chand, who had missed out on a well-deserved hundred in the semis, remained not out on 112 as the visitors reached the 195-run target with 7.2 overs to spare. Pat Cummins dismissed India opener Akhil Herwadkar early on and then sent back his opening partner Manan Vohra (23) a while later. But Chand anchored the innings skillfully, with useful contributions from Vijay Zol (21) and Akashdeep Nath, to seal the victory.

Earlier, after opting to field first, India restricted Australia to 194 with Sandeep Sharma picking a four-for to follow his three wickets in the semi-final. However, it was his new-ball partner Kamal Passi who gave the visitors their first breakthrough with the wicket of James Peirson in the second over of the innings. Sharma then followed up with the wickets of Kurtis Patterson and Travis Head. While the home team kept losing wickets at regular intervals, opener Meyrick Buchanan held together the innings with a 68-ball 59. He finally departed after edging Vikas Mishra to wicketkeeper Samit Patel. Harmeet Singh chipped in with two wickets, Baba Aparajith took one while Sharma picked two more lower down the order.

Sam Hain remained unbeaten on 41 as Australia set India a target of 195.

Brief scores: Australia 194/9 in 50 overs (M Buchanan 59, S Hain 41*, S Sharma 4/51, H Singh 2/33) lost to India 198/3 in 42.4 overs (U Chand 112*, AD Nath 24*, P Cummins 2/42) by 7 wickets

Man-of-the-Match: U Chand for his match-winning knock of 112 not out