U19 World Cup: Adarsh, Sharan's century stand helps India clinch opener

Bloemfontein: Adarsh Singh and Uday Saharan's century stand followed by cameos from Aravelly Avanish and Sachin Dhas helped India clinch their U19 World Cup opener against Bangladesh at Mangaung Oval here on Saturday.

India posted a competitive 251 on a track where stroke-making was difficult.

In reply, Bangladesh only managed 167 and lost the match by 84 runs.

Inserted into bat, India lost a couple of wickets in the first powerplay. But Adarsh and captain Sharan steadied the innings with a 116-run stand for the third wicket.

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Congratulations to Team India U19 for winning against Bangladesh U19 by 84 runs in the ICC U19 World Cup, marking the beginning of their campaign with an impressive start. Saumy Pandey taking four wickets was a standout moment in this impressive triumph. pic.twitter.com/NoUPo9TyRK

— Jay Shah (@JayShah) January 20, 2024 >

The century stand was broken by Bangladeshi pacer Chowdhury Mohammad Rizwan, and the scoring rate dipped.

Under pressure, Sharan was dismissed while trying to up the ante. Cameos from Avanish and Dhas ensured that India crossed 250.

For Bangladesh, Maruf Mridha was the pick of the bowlers. The left-arm speedster struck twice with the new ball and then added three more to his tally in the last 10 overs of the innings to finish with 5/43 in 8 overs.

Bangladesh started with a decent start scoring 33 runs off the first 6 overs. Murugan Abhishek latched on to a brilliant catch, providing the breakthrough and Saumy Pandey struck twice in two overs which reduced Bangladesh to 41/3 in the first powerplay.

Things got worse when Arshin Kulkarni trapped Ahrar Amin lbw in the 15th over.

At 50/4, Mohammad Shihab James joined Ariful Islam and the duo stitched a 77-run stand.

The asking rate kept climbing and the pressure got to the Bangladeshi batters. Musheer Khan removed both the set batters and there was hardly any fight from the lower order as Saumy Pandey ended with a four-fer.