India captain Yash Dhull led from the front, before bowlers Raj Bawa and Vicky Ostwal shined in the second half as India U19 defeated South Africa U19 to make a winning start to their campaign in the youth World Cup on January 15 in Guyana.
Dhull top-scored with a measured 82 off 100 deliveries in India’s fighting but less than ideal 232. The middle-order right-hander walked into bat with India standing at 11 for two and guided his team from an end through their innings.
He struck 11 fours in his knock and almost singlehandedly took the side to a competitive total, with thirties from Shaik Rasheed (31) and Kaushal Tambe (35) being the only other contributions of note.
South African bowlers did a decent job of putting the Indian side under pressure. Matthew Boast (3/40), Aphiwe Mnyanda (2/29) and Dewald Brevis (2/43) bagged eight wickets between them, allowing their side to dismiss the Indians in 46.5 overs.
The junior Proteas would’ve been slight favourites at the halfway mark. But their hopes were dashed by a spirited bowling performance from the Indians, especially their stand-out performers right-arm pacer Bawa and left-arm spinner Ostwal. The duo took nine wickets between them, including a rare five-fer for Ostwal.
While Bawa finished with impressive figures of four for 47, Ostwal took five for 28 off his 10 overs, respectively. The two exceptional performers were ably supported at the task by Rajvardhan Hangargekar (1/38) and Nishant Sindhu (0/22), who kept things absolutely tight at their end and further piled on the pressure on South Africans.
Proteas’ Dewald Brevis played a fine knock of 65 from No.3, while opening batter Valintine Kitime (25) and skipper George Van Heerden (36) also made contributions. But nobody played a substantial enough knock that would have allowed the South Africans to cover for the failures in the rest of the batting unit. They were bundled out for just 187 at the end.
The win by 45 runs has given India a solid start to their journey towards the quarterfinals from Group B, where they also play Ireland and Uganda.
Brief scores
India U-19 232/10 in 46.5 overs (Dhull 82, Tambe 35; Boast 3/40) lost to South Africa U-19 187/10 in 45.4 overs (Brevis 65; Ostwal 5/28; Bawa 4/47) by 45 runs
