MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand: India made the perfect start to their ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2018 campaign with a clinical performance beating Australia by 100 runs in their opening fixture.
After posting 328 for seven, led by captain Prithvi Shaw’s 94 and fellow opener Manjot Kalra’s 86 and Shubham Gill’s 63, India bowlers put Australian batting to the sword with pacers Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi claiming three wickets each.
For Australia, opener Jack Edwards top-scored with 73 while wicket-keeper batsman Baxter J Holt put in a rear-guard effort of 39 of 30 deliveries.
Australia were all out for 228 in 42.5 overs. Nagarkoti returned with impressive figures of 7-1-29-3 while Mavi was equally effective (8.5-1-45-3). Spinners Abhishek Sharma and Anukul Roy took one wicket apiece.
Shaw and Kalra gave India a good start, surpassing India’s previous best opening stand in the Under-19 World Cup of 173 set by Robin Uthappa and Shikhar Dhawan in 2006, after which, vice-captain Shubham Gill’s 63 and Abhishek Sharma’s eight-ball 23 took India to the formidable total.
India 328 for 7 (Shaw 94, Kalra 86, Gill 63; Edwards 4-65) bt Australia 228 all out (Edwards 73; Nagarkoti 3-29, Mavi 3-45) by 100 runs
South Africa 341 for 7 (Van Tonder 143, Pillay 62) bt Kenya 172 for 7 (Kundi 41; Mnyaka 2-9, Smith 2-36) by 169 runs
Ireland 207 for 8 (Grassi 75; Mendis 3-35) lost to Sri Lanka 208 for 3 (Lakshan 101*, Mendis 74*; Cawley 2-26) by seven wickets
TODAY: Bangladesh vs Canada (12.30am)
England vs Namibia (12.30am)