India Oust Zimbabwe In U19 World Cup

Tauranga (New Zealand): India crushed Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in a Group A clash to maintain their all-win record at the ICC U19 World Cup here on Friday.

Left-arm apinner Anukul Sudhakar Roy spearheaded the Indian bowling effort with figures of 4/20 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 A with six points after winning all their three matches. Electing to bart first on winning the toss, Zimbabwe ran into trouble right at the start when their 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 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 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 boundaries an a six. Brief scores: Zimbabwe: 154 in 48.1 overs (Milton Shumba 36; Anukul Roy 4/20) vs India: 155 for no loss in 21.4 overs (Shubman Gill 90 not out, Harvik Desai 56 not out).

IANS