Prithvi Shaw hammered 50 runs in 39 balls as India seals another win. (Twitter/ICC Cricket World Cup)
India continued their dominance in the U-19 ICC World Cup on Tuesday as the Prithvi Shaw-led side went on to beat minnows Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets. Chasing a low total of 65 runs, the skipper smashed PNG seamers for boundaries all around the park and went on to complete his second fifty in the tournament – in as many matches. Shaw scored 57 runs in 39 balls at a strike rate of 146.15. His innings comprised of 12 boundaries as he took India to their second straight victory. With the win, India became the first team to qualify for the Super League quarterfinal stages of the tournament. Earlier, India had beaten Australia by 100 runs.
Coming out to open alongside Shaw, Manjot Kalra played second fiddle and just kept rotating the strike to keep the skipper in the groove and ensure a quick and harmless victory. He just faced 9 deliveries, in which he scored 9 runs, as India chased down the target in just 8 overs.
Earlier, India bowlers turned on the heat against a struggling PNG batting line-up, with left-arm spinner Anukul Roy taking his maiden five-wicket haul. Roy gave away just 14 runs in his 6.5 overs at an economy of 2.04 as he scalped Ovia Sam, Kevau Tau, Sinaka Arua, James Tau and Semo Kamea. The 19-year old took two wickets in the 21st over to bowl out PNG for a meager 64 runs.
The hero of Sunday’s win against Australia U-19, Kamlesh Nagarkoti continued to bowl deliveries at a speed of over 140 kph and took the wicket of Leke Morea. Shivam Mavi also took two wickets as he sent Igo Mahuru and Heagi Tou back to the pavilion. Arshdeep Singh, who replaced an injured Ishan Porel in the playing XI, took the wicket of PNG skipper Vagi Karaho. Roy was awarded the man-of-the-match award for his bowling performance.
India will next play Zimbabwe U-19 on Friday with an attempt at remaining unbeaten in the tournament.
Brief Scores: India Under-19 67/0 in 8 overs (Shaw 57*, Kalra 9*, Morea 0-11) beat Papua New Guinea 64 all out (Sam 15, Roy 5-14, Mavi 2-16) by 10 wickets.
Other matches: Pakistan Under-19 98/1 in 8.5 overs (Alam 43; Cawley 1/27) beat Ireland U-19 97 all out in 28.5 overs (Little 24, Afridi 6/15, Hasan Khan 15/3) by 10 wickets.