Sangha stars as Aussies win thriller at U19 World Cup

An impressive display with bat and ball from 18-year-old leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha has helped Australia overcome Afghanistan in a tense U19 World Cup playoff on Sunday evening.

Sangha's four wickets continued his dominant tournament with the ball, while he added 46 runs – 11 of them coming in the final over, including the match-winning six from the penultimate ball – to help Australia to a four-wicket win.

Sangha claimed 4-41 with his leg-spin to play a leading role in restricting Afghanistan to 7-191 as only one player – Afghanistan captain Farhan Zakhil – able to pass 25.

Sangha, who holds a KFC BBL contract with the Sydney Thunder, now has 15 scalps at the U19 World Cup to be the second-most prolific bowler, at an average of 11.46 and an impressive economy rate of 3.58.

Australia's run-chase again got off to a shaky start as they were two down with three runs on the board by the end of the third over, with captain Mackenzie Harvey having his middle stump uprooted by opening bowler Abdul Rahman who finished with 3-48.

Opener Sam Fanning (62) and Lachlan Hearne (48) rebuilt the innings but a middle-order collapse saw them slip from 2-99 to 6-123 by the 38th over.

Afghanistan had courted controversy in their previous match with a 'Mankad' run out of the non-striker in their clash with Pakistan, but there was no repeat against the Aussies.

Sangha and wicketkeeper-batter Patrick Rowe put together a vital 72-run stand for the seventh wicket to see Australia home.

Needing 10 off the final over of the match, Sangha hit Ibrahim Zadran – Afghanistan's opening batsman and leading run-scorer who was bowling his first over of the match and just 10th in the tournament – for a four and then a six over the midwicket fence off the penultimate ball to seal the win.

Sangha said it was an "amazing feeling to win the game" with the bat, and paid credit to coaches, former Test players Chris Rogers and Ryan Harris, for keeping the team level-headed in the run chase.

"Obviously it was a very spinners-dominated match with a lot of turn and a lot of bounce," Sangha said after the game.

"I was listening to our coaches, who said 'take it deep' and go from there.

"It's an amazing feeling to win the game, another thriller.

"But we haven't played our best game yet, our top order hasn't really fired yet, so I reckon when we fire we can really show the world what we can do."

Australia's win over Afghanistan put them into the fifth-placed playoff against the West Indies on Friday.

Australia lost their first match of the tournament against the Windies, and Sangha said the chance to even the ledger would be a motivating factor in their final game of the tournament.