BLOEMFONTEIN (South Africa): India, the defending champions of the U-19 World Cup, continued with their winning ways with a thumping 201-run victory over Ireland at the Mangaung Oval on Thursday.
A resilient lower order of Ireland managed to frustrate the opposition bowlers, but eventually succumbed as India marched to the top of Group A with a handsome victory.
Left-arm pacer Naman Tiwari, in his opening spell, removed four Irish batters to put India in firm control. Left-arm spinner Saumy Pandey scalped two to further increase South Africa’s woes.
Daniel Forkin and Oliver Riley fought hard and made India bowlers struggle before they could get across the finishing line. Eventually, Murugan Abhishek got the breakthrough and skipper Uday Saharan picked up the final wicket to send India to the top of their group.
Earlier in the innings, after winning the toss and electing to bowl, a collective effort from India batters propelled their score to a competitive total of 301/7. Adarsh Singh was the first to fall and Arshin Kulkarni also failed to capitalize after an impressive start.
With India reduced to 80/2 in the 20th over, Musheer Khan and skipper Saharan took control by adding 156 runs for the third wicket. The duo batted with patience before going all guns blazing, the first boundary of their stand came in the 31st over.
Saharan fell after scoring 75, while Musheer scored a scintillating 118 which included nine fours and four sixes to put India on course of 300 plus total. With Ireland looking to control the damage, Aravelly Avanish and Sachin Dhas produced some late fireworks to power India to a score of 301/7.
Brief score: India U-19 301/7 (Musheer Khan 118, Uday Saharan 75; Oliver Riley 3-55) vs Ireland U-19 100 ( Daniel Forkin 27*; Naman Tiwari 4-53, Saumy Pandey 3-21). (ANI)