We were confident we could win: Smit Patel

Smit Patel celebrates India’s U-19 World Cup victory

Towsville (Australia), Aug 26 (IANS): India’s Smit Patel, who hit the winning runs in the ICC U-19 World Cup final against Australia, Sunday said he was always confident of victory.

‘It was awesome batting with (captain) Unmukt (Chand). He is a match-winner,’ said Patel, who remained unbeaten on 62.

‘We kept discussing our strategy during our partnership. I was quite confident that if we continued (the way we were playing), we could achieve the target (even if) with difficulty.

‘The situation was quite tentative when we lost the fourth wicket for 97 but we stuck to our basics. Our coach had told us whenever there is pressure we should just stick to our basics and that’s what we did,’ added the wicketkeeper-batsman.

Australia had scored 225/8 which the visitors chased successfully with six wickets to spare in 47.4 overs.

This is India’s third title after having won in 2000 and 2008.