BAN U19 VS IND U19 MATCH 3

Right then, that's all from this game, where India Under-19 kicked off their campaign with a comprehensive win over old rivals Bangladesh Under-19. The action in the 2024 Men's Under-19 World Cup continues on Sunday, 21st January where Sri Lanka will go up against Zimbabwe and New Zealand will lock horns with Nepal. Both games will begin at 1.30 pm GMT (8.00 am GMT), but our build-up will begin much sooner. Until then, take care and goodbye!

Uday Saharan, the winning skipper of India Under-19, says the team was focused on the plans and tried to execute it well. He talks about his partnership with Adarsh Singh and appreciates his knock and says that he kept things calm in the middle. He further says that Naman Tiwari was off rhythm a bit but everybody else was up for the attack. He then says that this game was important and is happy with the win but they will look forward to the rest of the tournament one game at a time.

The skipper of Bangladesh Under-19, Mahfuzur Rahman starts by congratulating the Indian team for the way they played. He then says that the batter's poor selection of shots was the reason for the loss. He further says that this wicket is a good chasing ground but will only work well when the batters do well. He then says that Maruf Mridha has been bowling well and hopes that he keeps doing that. He concludes that the boys were excited to play against India and the energy showed.

Adarsh Singh is the PLAYER OF THE MATCH for his outstanding knock of 76 runs from 96 balls, paving the way for an India win. He says he is feeling good and played ball to ball focusing on how the wicket was playing. He then says that he and Uday Saharan spoke of converting singles to doubles and rotating strikes which would get them a few loose balls to put away. He further says that he has always kept his plans simple and plays on the merit of the ball. He concludes that his favourite shot is the cover drive.

Time for the presentation ceremony...

Earlier in the game, after being inserted into bat, India Under-19 were dealt twin blows in the form of Arshin Kulkarni and Musheer Khan. Skipper Uday Saharan joined Adarsh Singh out in the middle and the duo did a good job of ensuring that their side did not lose any more wickets in the first Powerplay. Both batters were content in knocking it around and kept the Bangladesh spinners at bay. Adarsh and Saharan brought up their respective fifties to lay a solid platform for the rest of the batting unit to build on. Once the stand was broken, India struggled to get momentum into their innings but Aravelly Rao and Sachin Dhas came to their rescue with breezy cameos while Priyanshu Moliya chipped in as well to get them to 251. For Bangladesh Under-19, Maruf Mridha was the standout bowler with figures of 5 for 43 from his eight overs, including a maiden.

On the other hand, Bangladesh Under-19 gave a good account of themselves with the ball but they could never really recover after losing three wickets inside the first Powerplay. The 2020 Under-19 World Cup champions start their campaign with a defeat but there were a lot of positives to take home for Mahfuzur Rahman and his side. In pursuit of 252, Bangladesh were off to a steady start. Ashiqur Rahman Shibli copped a nasty blow but carried on and found good support from Jishan Alam. However, Jishan was the first to perish and all of a sudden, found themselves right behind the eight ball with wickets falling in quick succession. Ariful Islam and Md. Shihab James began the rebuild for Bangladesh and were happy to bide their time at the crease. As the batters grew in confidence, they began to up the scoring rate but they needed more than what they were going at during that stage in the game. One of the mainstays of their batting, Ariful was dismissed just after the drinks break which left James will all to do. He carried on and got to his fifty but the writing was on the wall by then and Bangladesh Under-19 eventually lost the game by 84 runs.

India Under-19 began their title defence with an emphatic victory! The defending champions are up and running in the 15th edition of the Men's Under-19 World Cup here in the Rainbow Nation. Having failed to finish in a way they would have liked, India were in search of early breakthroughs to put the pressure back on Bangladesh. Raj Limbani was tidy in his first spell but his new ball partner, Naman Tiwari struggled for rhythm and gave away too many extras. Limbani was rewarded for his tidiness and it opened the door for India. Brought on as the first change, Saumy Pandey struck twice off successive overs before Arshin Kulkarni joined in on the fun. In the middle phase, they were stalled by the gritty stand between Ariful Islam and Md. Shihab James but during that phase, they kept the runs in check. Musheer Khan helped break that partnership and Saumy Pandey and Priyanshu Moliya capitalised on that scalp as they combined well to run through the Bangladesh lower order. Saumy Pandey broke the back of the Bangladesh batting unit with a four-wicket haul while Musheer Khan accounted for two wickets each.

OUT! BOWLED'EM! THAT'S IT! Saumy Pandey finishes off things and how. Darts the ball on a short length on middle and off, the ball skids off the deck. Maruf Mridha gets rushed in the crease as he looks to keep this one out. The ball goes through the gap between his pad and bat and pegs back the off stump. Saumy Pandey gets his four-fer with that wicket. India Under-19 win their first game in the 2024 Under-19 World Cup by 84 runs!

Shorter and angling away, outside off, Maruf Mridha looks to play it fine on the off side but misses out.

Fuller again around off, Maruf Mridha goes back and tries to guide it past slip but makes no connection.

WIDE! Fires it in now but down the leg side again, on a fuller length, Maruf Mridha lets it go through for a wide.

Slightly slower through the air outside off, Maruf Mridha gets beaten as he tries to cut it square on the off.

Floats this up and outside off, Maruf Mridha gets a thick outside edge as he tries to cream the drive. The ball zips past the slip and he does well diving onto his left to hod on to the ball.

WIDE! Digs it short and down the leg side.

Fuller and wider of off, Maruf Mridha miscues his drive to square of third man and gets a single.

Digs this one short and hits the deck hard outside off, Maruf Mridha goes for an expansive pull but is beaten by the extra bounce.