Muscat. Thanks to the brilliant bowling of Ishan Sood and unbeaten half-centuries from Aryaveer Sehwag and captain Lakshya Raichandani, India Under-19 defeated Nepal Under-19 by 10 wickets in their opening match of the Under-19 Asia Cup on Friday. In the match played at Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman, India achieved the target of 129 runs in just 19.1 overs without losing any wicket.
Ishan Sood performed brilliantly in the initial overs for the Indian team, which won the toss and decided to bowl first. On a pitch with a light layer of green grass, he swung the ball both ways and troubled Nepal’s top order. Nepal’s top three batsmen returned to the pavilion in their opening spell of six overs.
After this Darsh Sonar tried to take control of the innings. He made useful partnerships with Niraj Yadav and Ashish Luhar and took the team’s score beyond 100 runs. In the initial phase, spin bowlers did not get much help from the pitch, taking advantage of which Darsh and his fellow batsmen scored runs.
However, Nepal’s bottom line fell apart after Ashish and Darsh’s partnership broke down. The batsmen kept losing wickets by playing irresponsible shots. Arjun Rajput played an important role in wrapping up Nepal’s innings by taking three wickets. The entire team was out for 128 runs.
The Indian team, which came to chase the target, did not have much movement in the ball after the initial overs. After playing the first few overs cautiously, Aryaveer Sehwag and Lakshya Raichandani started hitting boundaries at regular intervals.
Sehwag hit high shots towards the front of the field, targeting the spin bowlers. He completed his half-century in only 34 balls. On the other hand, Raichandani batted with restraint and rotated the strike and gave Sehwag a chance to play aggressively.
Both the batsmen remained unbeaten and achieved the target in 115 balls. With this win, India Under-19 team reached the top position in Group A with two points and a positive net run rate of 4.170.