A splendid batting effort by openers, equally backed by a disciplined bowling display by the bowlers, helped India defeat Ireland by a massive margin of 174 runs while defending a 308-run target in their Group B encounter of the ICC U19 World Cup 2022 at Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba on Wednesday.
Despite losing the toss, India dominated the match from the word go and much of the credit goes to man of the match opener Harnoor Singh (88) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (79) for building a solid foundation by adding record 164 runs for the opening wicket.
However, the score wouldn't have crossed 300 if not for Rajvardhan Hangargekar, who spiced up things at the end with five towering sixes. Stand-in captain Nishant Sindhu's (34) effort must be acknowledged as well as he kept the scoreboard moving after both the openers departed. Last but not the least, Raj Bawa struggled during his 62-ball stay but did add those 42 runs in the middle overs.
Following a strong batting show, bowlers fired in unison to pack Ireland batting for 133 runs in just 39 overs for a massive 174 runs. The lopsided win guaranteed India's berth in the Super League phase as Kaushal Tambe, Vicky Ostwal and Garv Sangwan (two wickets each) ran through the Irish lower-order after Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Ravi Kumar polished the openers.
Chasing the target, Ireland started very poorly. On the last ball of the fourth over, Ravi Kumar gave India the first breakthrough by dismissing Liam Doherty for just 7. In the very next over, Hangargekar dismissed Jack Dixon lbw for 0. Ireland were yet to recover from these setbacks when opener David Vincent was run out in an attempt to steal a run by Bawa with a direct him; leaving the chasing side at 17/3 in 7 overs.
Captain Tim Tector (15), Joshua Cox (28) and Scott Macbeth (32) tried to handle Ireland's innings but they could not last long in front of the Indian bowling as Ireland were 66/6 by the 22nd over.
Scott MacBeth (32) then took Ireland past the 100-run mark while getting some help from Nathan McGuire (14) and Matthew Humphreys (16*) but it all turned out to be a futile effort as Indian spinners wiped off Irish tail with 66 balls to spare in the game.
