U19 World Cup 2024: India thrash Ireland to take top spot as Boys in Blue near Super-Six berth

India’s U19 side is on the brink of a Super Six place berth after they thrashed Ireland on Thursday (Jan 25) in their second Group A encounter. The contest played at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein saw India register a massive 201-run win after they bowled out Ireland for 100. The win also sees India sit top of Group A and are all but in the Super Six considering their superior Net Run Rate (NRR). Musheer Khan was the star of the show with a knock of 118 runs while skipper Uday Saharan scored his second fifty of the tournament.

Asked to defend 302, Ireland were never in the contest as an Indian bowling attack led by Naman Tiwari (53/4) and Saumy Pandey (21/3) jolted the Irish batting line-up. Having made a slow start to their innings, the Irish side was 45/8 inside the second powerplay and completely surrendered to hand India an advantage. While there was little resistance from Daniel Forkin (27) and Oliver Riley (15), Ireland could not avoid the embarrassment of a big defeat. They were fortunate to reach the triple-figure mark before getting bowled out for 100.

Dhanush Gowda, Murugan Abhishek and Saharan got one wicket each as India won the contest by 201 runs.

Asked to bat first, India lost Adarsh Singh (17) and Arshin Kulkarni (32) before the 20th over and were 80/2. However, Musheer Khan and Uday Saharan took charge from here and dominated the opposition bowling. Musheer scored 118 off 106 deliveries while Saharan scored 75 off 84 deliveries and stitched a partnership of 156 runs for the third wicket. Soon both Musheer and Saharan were dismissed but not before they had done the damage.

Aravelly Avanish (22) and Sachin Dhas (21) also added valuable runs to take India above 300 runs in their 50 overs.

India will next take on the United States at the same venue on Sunday (Jan 28) as they look to conclude the group stage campaign with a flawless show.