U-19 World Cup: COVID-hit India reach quarter-finals after beating Ireland

A record four-time champion and title contender India swept into the Premier League quarter-finals of the ICC U-19 World Cup after beating Fish Ireland by a whopping 174 points in a league game here. In the game, India barely played an XI.

India started its campaign on a winning note, beating South Africa by 45 points on Saturday, and winning by such a huge margin on Wednesday was significant as six members of the squad were forced to quarantine after testing. The team has fielded only 11 available players who tested positive for COVID-19.

At the picturesque Brian Lara Stadium, India first rode Hanur Singh’s brisk 88, well complemented by his opening partner Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s running ball 79 At this point, hit 5 with a challenge of 307.

Also read: U-19 World Cup: COVID-19 scare for India as Dhull, Rasheed miss Ireland games

Hrishikesh Kanitkar’s team then swept away their opponents with a meager 133 points in 39 games to seal an easy victory.

Captain Yash Dhull and his deputy Sheikh Rasheed were quarantined after testing positive as Nishant Sindhu led the side.

Left-handers Harnoor and Angriksh stitched together a 164-run stand at the top to ensure the Indian bowlers had a decent defensive total.

Harnoor hit 12 fours in his 101 at-bats, while Angriksh found 10 boundaries and two sixes.

Substitute captains Nishant Sindhu (36 of 34) and Raj Bawa (42 of 64) shared the stand for 64 in the third wicket, ensuring the platform created by the opener was well utilised to create the big score .

Just when India appeared to be lacking enough firepower in the closing stages as the favourites had dried up, Rajvardhan Hangargekar hit five sixes, including a top hat-trick in the final innings, in his fiery 17-ball 39-game run. In losing cameos, India crossed the 300 mark.

Hanol, who has always been shining, tee-off gracefully. If it’s sloping up the middle and legs, the southpaw from Jalandhar flicks it neatly. Those pitching offside were driven to the screen when Hanol ticked the board.

In contrast, Angriksh opted to bring the ball into the muscle. He cut, pulled and teeed off aggressively as none of the Irish bowlers could trouble the India opener.

read: India’s U-19 star Vicky Ostwal’s ambitious journey

The 16-year-old from Delhi pulled left-arm spinner Matthew Humphreys (1/69) deep into the middle of the goal to improve his half-century. It was the same bowler who trapped his leg later.

Angkrish is dismissed by spinner Jamie Forbes (1/38).

Chasing 308, Ireland lost two openers on the cheap in their first seven innings Liam Doherty (7), David Vincent (8) and first base Jack Dixon (0) After that, it was shaky at 17-3.

Ireland never recovered from an early blow as right-arm mid-pacer Garv Sangwan (2/23) sent captain Tim Tector (No. 15) back in the 15th inning to make it 36-4 behind.

Goalkeeper Joshua Cox (28 on 46 balls) tried to get deep into the game, but it was too little too late.

read: Ireland’s historic ODI series victory in West Indies

Sangwan struck again, this time removing Cox, who was caught by Dinesh Bana in the 21st as Ireland lost half by 66.

Scott Macbeth (32) just put off the inevitable, but from here, it’s only a matter of time before India beat left-arm orthodox spinner Aneeshwar Gautam (2/11) and non-spinner Kaushal Tambe (2/8) ) to clean the middle and lower layers and the tail.

For India, Sangwan, Gautam and Tambe picked two wickets each, while Rajvardhan Hangargekar (1/17), Ravi Kumar (1/11) and spinner Vicky Ostwal (1/22) also played their part.

India now needs enough players for Saturday’s final Group B match against Uganda as batsmen Aaradhya Yadav, Vasu Vats, Manav Parakh and Siddharth Yadav have also tested positive for the virus in addition to Dhull and Rasheed.