India U19 advance to the quarter-finals of the World Cup after rippling display against Ireland

The Indian youth are on a roll as the latest victim of their onslaught in the U19 World Cup were the Irish who were left defeated despite the Indian camp undergoing a covid scare.

In the absence of Yash Dhull and Sk Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu was handed over the responsibility of leading the team and the young lad pulled off a phenomenal job in guiding India to a crushing victory over their Irish counterparts.

Opting to bat first, the Indian openers were off to a flyer as Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Harnoor Singh played some neat strokes and tormented the bowlers to stitch an opening stand of 164 runs. Raghuvanshi managed to pile up 79 runs from 79 balls before being removed by Jamie Forbes.

Raj Bawa was the next man in and continued with the assault as India was en route to a momentous total. The stand-in skipper played an impeccable cameo to propel India to a comfortable 307 for the loss of 5 from their quota of 50 overs. Harnoor Singh was the leading run-scorer with 88 that saw him stitching together 12 fours.

The Indian bowlers meant business from the word go as they imposed invisible shackles upon the Irish batters from the onset of the second innings. Ravi Kumar drew first blood with Rajvardhan Hangargekar doubling the Irish misery.

Joshua Cox and Scott McBeth were the sole warriors for Ireland with decent scores as the remaining team faltered miserably in front of a formidable Indian bowling lineup. Vicky Ostwal continued with his good form as he claimed another brace that was aptly complemented by Garv Sangwan and Kaushal Tambe.

Rajvardhan Hangargekar chipped in with another fine bowling performance to leave Ireland stranded on an island of uncertainty. Kaushal Tambe struck the coup de grace to the Irish ambitions as he claimed Muzamil Sherzad.

The young lads of India made the cut for the quarter-final with an exultant display in the first two games of the tournament. Much to India’s surprise, things seemed a lot better despite a major chunk of India’s first-string squad being compelled into quarantine due to a Covid scare. India’s next encounter will be against Uganda at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba.