NEW DELHI: The Indian colts led by Uday Saharan and their South African counterparts jointly earned top honours of the U-19 Tri-Nation tourney as the title clash in Johannesburg was called off due to rain on Wednesday.
Despite waiting for the designated cut-off time in the hope of achieving the minimum five overs required for a result, the wet playing conditions at the Old Edwardians Cricket Ground Club forced the match officials to abandon the final without a ball being bowled.
As there was no reserve day scheduled, the title was shared between the India and South Africa teams.
Five-time champions India will now redirect their attention to the upcoming U-19 World Cup, set to commence on January 19. The young Indian team will aim to showcase their skills and compete for another title in the prestigious youth cricket tournament.
Ahead of the U-19 World Cup, the Indian team is scheduled to play a warm-up fixture against Australia at Pretoria on Saturday. Following that, they will have a second warm-up match against Sri Lanka on January 17.
These warm-up fixtures provide teams with an opportunity to fine-tune their strategies and assess their preparedness before the main tournament.
In the tournament proper, five-time champions India play against Bangladesh.
The Indian colts made the Tri-Nation final by winning all their four group league matches.
Saharan and Adarsh Singh have struck a century each to form the backbone of their batting.
While Saharan had 117 runs in three innings, Adarsh finished as the top run-getter of the series with 230 runs.
The Proteas U-19 side on the other hand made the final by virtue of their better net run-rate over Afghanistan.
Having lost to the Afghans in their opener, South Africa bounced back to defeat them in the last game.
(With PTI inputs)