Roy and Shaw fashion India’s thumping win over PNG
mount maunganui — Threetime champions India stormed into the ICC U-19 World Cup quarterfinals after inflicting a humiliating 10-wicket loss on minnows Papua New Guinea in a low-scoring group B clash here on Tuesday.
Skipper Prithvi Shaw slammed a strokeful fifty while spinner Anukul Roy claimed a maiden five-wicket haul to emerge as the architects of India’s dominating victory.
Roy was the wrecker-in-chief as he ran through the opposition, returning with impressive figures of 6.5-2-14-5 after skipper Shaw won the toss and elected to field first under overcast conditions.
PNG, who last appeared in the World Cup in 2014 in the UAE, looked clueless against India’s bowling unit and folded for 64 in 21.5 over, the tournament’s lowest score so far.
Wickets for left-arm spinner
Anukul Roy India, who had inflicted a 100run defeat on former champions Australian in their first match, then overhauled the target, reaching 67 for no loss in 8 overs, riding on Shaw’s unconquered 39-ball 57.
Earlier, in conditions that aided swing and bounce, Indian fast bowler Shivam Mavi picked up two wickets, while pace colleagues Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Arshdeep Singh snapped a scalp each. India will take on Zimbabwe next on January 19 in their last preliminary clash.
Put into bat, Papua New Guinea found the going tough against a quality bowling unit fast bowlers Shivam and Nagarkoti as they lost half of their side for 61 runs in 15.2 overs.
Roy then moped up the tail, getting rid of James Tau (0), Kevauto end PNG’s misery.
Chasing the target, Shaw and Manjot Kalra (9) hardly broke a sweat with the skipper toying with the opposition bowlers.
Such was Shaw’s dominance that he scored 48 runs of his unbeaten 57 in boundaries — 12 fours in total. It was Shaw’s second half-century of the tournament.
None of the bowlers could trouble Shaw as he slapped and pulled the length balls to the square boundaries on either side and brought up the winning runs with successive boundaries. — PTI