India, Pakistan and Australia in quarterfinals
tauranga (new zealand) — India crushed Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in a Group B clash to maintain their all-win record at the ICC U19 World Cup on Friday.
Left-arm spinner Anukul Sudhakar Roy spearheaded the Indian bowling effort with figures of 4 for 20 as Zimbabwe were dismissed for 154 runs in 48.1 overs.
Openers Harvik Desai and Shubman Gill then produced unbeaten half-centuries to carry India to victory in just 21.4 overs.
The Indian boys have thus finished the opening round at the top of Group B with six points after winning all their three matches.
They will face Bangladesh, who are second in Group C, in the quarterfinals. Zimbabwe are out of the tournament, having finished third in the group with two points from three matches.
Electing to bat first, Zimbabwe ran into trouble right at the start when opener Gregory Dollar was bowled by Indian fast bowler Shivam Mavi in the third over.
The other Zimbabwe opener Wesley Madhevere was then involved in two partnerships with Dion Myers and Milton Shumba.
The trio did their best to keep the Indian bowlers at bay, but struggled to keep the run rate going.
Once the three of them had returned to the pavilion, the batsmen in Zimbabwe’s middle and lower order were cleaned up by the Indian bowlers with four of them falling before reaching double figures.
Shumba was the highest scorer for Zimbabwe with 36 runs off 59 deliveries. Apart from Roy, Arshdeep and Abhishek Sharma also bowled well, ending up with a couple of wickets each.
Desai and Gill then put on an unbeaten
opening stand of 155 runs to power the Indians to an easy victory. Gill scored a quickfire 90 off 59 balls which was studded with 13 boundaries and a six.
Desai produced a steady 56 off 73 balls with eight fours and a six
In a Group D match, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by three wickets and with 39 balls to spare to book their ticket to the quarterfinals.
Sri Lanka were rattled by Suleman Shafqat (3 for 29) and Shaheen Afridi (2-41) as the Islanders were bowled out for 188 in 48.32 overs despite Jehan Daniel striking a defiant 53 and Ashen Bandara a 37.
Pakistan made up for some early damages inflicted by left-arm fast bowler Thisara Rashmika (three for 47) to get to their target with 6.3 overs to spare. — IANS