The defending champions, India Under-19 started their Under-19 World Cup 2024 campaign with a magnificent win by 84 runs against Bangladesh in their first match. Both teams played this match at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Saturday, January 20 2024. Bangladesh U19 skipper Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby won the toss and asked India to bat first.
Batting first, India U19 managed to post a decent total of 251 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted 50 overs. Opener Adarsh Singh scored a crucial half-century, scoring 76 runs off 96 balls, with 6 fours. Besides Adarsh, skipper Uday Saharan also scored 64 runs off 94 balls, with 4 fours to help India post a defendable total in the allotted 50 overs.
Maruf Mridha of Bangladesh bowled brilliantly in the first innings, claiming an amazing five-wicket haul, with 5 wickets at the cost of just 43 runs in 8 overs, including one maiden over. Other than Mridha, Chowdhur Md Rizwan and skipper Rabby also picked one wicket each.
Indian bowlers outmuscle Bangladesh's batting attack while defending the target
While chasing the target, Bangladesh batters couldn’t survive against the Indian bowling attack, especially the outstanding spell of spinner Saumy Pandey, who scalped 4 wickets just at the cost of 24 runs in 9.5 overs with an unbelievable economy rate of 2.44, with one maiden over. Alongside Pandey, Musheer Khan also scalped 2 wickets, with one wicket each bagged by Raj Limbani, Arshin Kulkarni, and Priyanshu Moliya.
On the back of brilliant performances from the bowlers, India bundled out Bangladesh only at a score of 167 runs in 45.5 overs. Mohammad Shihab James was the only batter to score a half-century for Bangladesh U19, scoring 54 runs, with 7 fours. Other than him, it was only the number four batter Ariful Islam who scored 41 runs off 71 balls, with 3 fours, who could touch the individual mark of 40+ runs for Bangladesh in the second innings.
Eventually, India won the match by 84 runs and opener Adarsh Singh won the ‘Player of the Match award for his 76-run knock in India’s favour.
Here’s how fans reacted to India U19’s win against Bangladesh U19:
Revenge of Asia Cup
— Temba Bashira (@tembu_699) January 20, 2024
Well,
— Being Indian 🇮🇳 (@SunilSa02606284) January 20, 2024
Great start for the world Cup campaign ✅
Don't forget Bangladesh are a good side and were recent Asia cup winners
Solid start like we always do in all World Cups
— AP (@AksP009) January 20, 2024
Congratulations Team India
— Satya Prakash (@Satya_Prakash08) January 20, 2024
Future stars 🔥🔥🔥
— Secular Chad (@SachabhartiyaRW) January 20, 2024
Brilliant start of u19 world cup by Indian u19 cricket team, hope they continue this form 🔥
— Kirkett (@bhaskar_sanu08) January 20, 2024
Great victory for young lads ❤️🙌🏻
— ᴅɪʙʏᴀ 𝕏 (@kohlixfear18) January 20, 2024
❤❤इंडिया 🩷🩷 🇮🇳
— GORDXROHIT (@gordxrohit) January 20, 2024
Chak de india
— Abhinav singh (@Abhinav_tmk) January 20, 2024
🩷🩷🩷 india 🇮🇳
— GORDXROHIT (@gordxrohit) January 20, 2024