India begin U-19 Cup campaign with win
BLOEMFONTEIN: India began their U-19 World Cup campaign with a 90-run win over Sri Lanka here on Sunday.
A whirlwind 44 off 27 balls from Siddhesh Veer along with three half-century knocks from opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (59 off 74b) and skipper Priyam Garg (56 off 72b) and vice-captain Dhruv Jurel (52 off 48b) propelled India to 297/4 in 50 overs. In reply, Sri Lanka were all out for 207 in 45.2 overs.
Fast bowler Kartik Tyagi (1/27 in 7.2 overs) was the most impressive as he time and again breached the 140kmph mark. The opposition batsmen found his short ball difficult to handle. Legspinner Ravi Bishnoi (2/44 in 10 overs), who will be seen donning Kings XI Punjab colours in the IPL, showed good control while left-arm seamer Akash Singh got two for 29.
Batting first, Jaiswal and Divyansh Saxena (23) put on 66 for the opening stand. NT Tilak Verma (46 off 53 balls) ran hard between the wickets adding 46 with Jaiswal before the former was dismissed. Skipper Garg, the most experienced first-class player in the tournament along with Tilak, added a run-a-ball 59.
Garg, who had three boundaries, was joined by Jurel for a 63-run stand for the fourth wicket that took the score to 232.
But credit to Veer, who used the long handle to good effect in a 65-run stand in 7.2 overs with Jurel.
Brief scores: India U-19 297/4 in 50 overs (Y Jaiswal 59, P Garg 56, A de Silva 1/40); Sri Lanka U-19 207 all out in 45.2 overs (N Dhananjaya 50, A Singh 2/29)