Indian colts made a sensational start to their Under-19 World Cup campaign with a strong 84-run win against Bangladesh at Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Saturday, January 20. It was a win that was set up by the batters with opener Adarsh Singh top-scoring with 76 while skipper Uday Saharan hit a mature 64. Sachin Dhas with a quickfire cameo at the end helped lift India's total to 251 before the bowlers were all over the Bangladesh line-up like a rash.
Bangladesh began really well and kept Indian bowlers under the pump chasing a target of 252 before Raj Limbani provided the Boys in Blue with a breakthrough in the 7th over. After which it was a Saumy Pandey show, who encouraged everyone to not get overexcited after taking every wicket and he took a lot of them. Despite a 77-run partnership between Ariful Islam, the player who had an on-field spat with Saharan during India's batting innings and Shihab James, Bangladesh didn't look like chasing the target at any point in the second innings.
The moment when the partnership between James and Ariful was broken, the required rate was already above 7.5 and it kept rising with the left-arm spin duo of Pandey and Musheer Khan running riot. Musheer took a couple of wickets while Pandey ended up with the figures of 4/24 after taking the last two wickets as well. Bangladesh lost their last six wickets for just 40 runs as they went from 127/4 to 167 all out.
Earlier, while batting first after losing the toss, India didn't have a great start losing a couple of wickets in the powerplay itself before Adarsh and Saharan helped the defending champions recover. The partnership got quite frustrating for Bangladesh as both the batters smashed their fifties and stitched a 100-run partnership.
India lost both of them in quick succession and India threatened to fold below 220 before the likes of Priyansh Moliya and Dhas with valuable knocks at the end guided India to a score in excess of 250, which was eventually enough for the Boys in Blue. India next face Ireland on Thursday, January 25 at the very same venue.
