Sarfaraz Khan, Avesh Khan shine as India beat New Zealand by 120 runs in ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016

Brilliant performances by Sarfaraz Khan and Avesh Khan take India Under-19 team to a comfortable victory by 120 runs against the New Zealand Under-19 team in match 10 of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 at Mirpur, Dhaka. With the win, India register their second consecutive victory and remain undefeated in the tournament while New Zealand face their second defeat. India, despite a weak start, fought back strongly and clinched the victory with an all-round performance as both batsmen and bowlers excelled and did their bit to help India achieve a victory with record margin.  FULL CRICKET SCORES & UPDATES: India vs New Zealand, ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, Match 10 at Dhaka

Winning the toss, New Zealand put India to bat first. New Zealand tasted early success as they bagged some crucial wickets. India lost the first wicket in their skipper Ishan Kishan who scored a mere 4 while Ricky Bhui also followed him soon after scoring a solitary run. The innings thereafter found stability with the partnership built between Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant. The two batsmen played sensible cricket as they took their time to settle down and then hammered the bowlers later in their innings. The partnership added 89 runs before Pant departed making 57 off 83, hitting 7 fours and 2 sixes in the process.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

Sarfaraz Khan went on to score 74, exactly the same that he had scored in his last game against Ireland, and provided an ample boost of runs. Another important innings came from Armaan Jaffer who scored 46 runs coming out to bat at No. 5. For New Zealand, the bowlers did exceptionally well as the top-order batsmen never looked comfortable facing the bowlers. The highest wicket-taker for them was Zak Gibson with his 3 wickets while Nathan Smith and Rachin Ravindra bagged a couple of wickets each.

New Zealand, chasing the target, failed to pull off a good performance. Avesh Khan did the damage as he picked up the top four batsmen back to back and New Zealand were put under immense pressure. It was not until Finn Allen and Christian Leopard came into action that New Zealand found a good partnership. It was the highest-run partnership for the side and added 49 runs. But before they could make any effective contribution, both the batsmen were removed. Aniket Parikh and Talor Scott tried to help their side out with the bat down the order but couldn’t save the side from a 120-run defeat. New Zealand were bundled out for 138 with 18.3 overs still remaining. This is the biggest defeat for NZ in Under-19 World Cup, the last was by 115 runs against England.

Though Avesh Khan bagged four wickets and was the Player of the Match, one key performance came from Mahipal Lomror that needs special mention. Lomror played an important knock of 45 off 42 with 3 fours and a six coming out to bat at No. 7 and then remained successful with the ball taking 5 wickets.

Brief Score:

India U19 258 for in 50 Overs (Sarfaraz Khan 74, Rishabh Pant 57; Zak Gibson 3 for 50) won by 120 runs vs New Zealand U19 139 all out ( Christian Leopard 40; Avesh Khan 4 for 32, Mahipal Lomror 5 for 47)

FULL CRICKET SCORES & UPDATES

(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)