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U-19 World Cup: Covid-hit India stroll into quarterfinals after beating Ireland
Tarouba (Trinidad), Jan 20
Record four-time champions and title contenders India stormed into the Super League quarterfinals of the Under-19 World Cup after thrashing minnows Ireland by 174 runs in a league game here, in which they barely managed to field a playing XI.
India started their campaign by beating South Africa by 45 runs last Saturday and the win on Wednesday by such a huge margin is significant as the team fielded the only available 11 players after six of their members were forced into isolation after testing positive for Covid.
Skipper Yash Dhull and his deputy Sheikh Rasheed were among those isolated as Nishant Sindhu led the side.
Put in to bat, India first rode on Harnoor Singh's brisk 88 and his opening partner Angkrish Raghuvanshi's run-a-ball 79 to post a challenging 307/5.
The Hrishikesh Kanitkar-coached side then bundled out the opposition for 133 in 39 overs to register a comfortable win.
Left-handed Harnoor and Angriksh stitched a 164-run stand at the top to ensure the Indian bowlers had a decent total to defend. Harnoor hit 12 fours in his 101-ball knock while Angriksh found 10 boundaries and two sixes.
Chasing 308, Ireland were teetering at 17/3 after losing openers Liam Doherty (7) and David Vincent (8), and Jack Dickson (0) cheaply inside seven overs.
Ireland never recovered from the early blows as right-arm medium-pacer Garv Sangwan (2/23) sent back skipper Tim Tector (15) in the 15th over. Wicketkeeper Joshua Cox (28 off 46 balls) tried to take
the game deep, but it was too little and too late.
For India, Sangwan, Gautam and Tambe picked two wickets each while Rajvardhan Hangargekar (1/17), Ravi Kumar (1/11) and spinner Vicky Ostwal (1/22) also did their job.
India now need to have enough players for their last Group B game against Uganda on Saturday as besides Dhull and Rasheed, batter Aaradhya Yadav, Vasu Vats, Manav Parakh, and Siddharth Yadav also tested positive for the virus.
In a Group D match in Basseterre, Australia defeated Scotland by seven wickets.
Brief scores: India: 307/5 (Harnoor 88, Raghuvanshi 79; Sherzad 3/79); Ireland: (MacBeth 32, Cox 28; Tambe 2/8) — PTI
'Tremendous show'
The Indian colts received a pat on the back from National Cricket Academy (NCA) head VVS Laxman after they overcome a spate of Covid positive cases in a "phenomenal" manner to win their match against Ireland. "Tremendous show of character and maturity from the U-19 team. With just 11 players available for today's game, to go out and express themselves the way they did was phenomenal. Can't say how proud I am of them!" Laxman tweeted.