The Indian juggernaut rolled on in the ICC Under-19 World Cup as Vihaan Malhotra struck a timely century to set up a 204-run victory over Zimbabwe in their Super Six match in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
The victory took five-time champions India to the top of Super Six Group 2. India will take on Pakistan in their second and final Super Six match at the same venue on Sunday. Two teams from the six-team group, which also includes England, Bangladesh and New Zealand, will qualify for the semifinals.
Put in to bat, India, riding on knocks from Player of the Match Vihaan Malhotra (109 from 107 balls) and fifties from Vaibhav Suryavanshi (52 off 30) and Abhigyan Kundu (61 off 62), scored 352 for eight in their 50 overs.
Zimbabwe, in reply, could manage only 148 in 37.4 overs. Ayush Mhatre led India’s bowling effort with an impressive three for 14 from four overs, while Udhav Mohan also claimed three wickets, conceding just 20 runs in 6.4 overs.
India set the tone early as openers Aaron George and Vaibhav Suryavanshi raced to 44 without loss in the first four overs. But it was too good to last as Hyderabad’s Aaron fell for 23 but a brisk 56-run stand for the second wicket between Suryavanshi and skipper Ayush Mhatre helped India reach 100 in the 11th over.
However, the momentum briefly stalled when Suryavanshi, who had brought up a 24-ball half-century, and Mhatre were dismissed in quick succession in the same over. Mhatre fell to Tatenda Chimugoro as he was caught by Nathaniel Hlabangana and two balls later Suryavanshi was snapped up by Simbarashe Mudzengerere off Chimugoro.
Vedant Trivedi (15) too departed quite early, in the 17th over, to further reduce India to 130 for four. It was quite a wobble at this stage of the game but India’s batting depth once again came to the fore.
The youngsters were not willing to lose their bearings as Vihaan and wicketkeeper-bat Abhigyan Kundu steadied the innings with a 113-run partnership for the fifth wicket, which proved to be the backbone of the big total. Kundu was the more aggressive partner as he scored 61 and Vihaan contributed 48 off 53 balls.
Vihaan paced his knock smartly before accelerating towards the end, while Kundu played the ideal foil with a fluent 61 off 62 balls with five fours and a six. After Kundu’s departure, Vihaan added another 52 for the seventh wicket with Ambrish RS (21).
Later, Vihaan found another good partner in Khilan Patel, who scored a 12-ball, and the duo pushed the total past the 350-run mark. They added 47 for the eighth wicket with Khilan doing the bulk of the scoring.
Chasing 353, Zimbabwe were rocked early as they lost three wickets for just 24 runs. Kian Blignaut (37) and Leeroy Chiwaula (62) offered resistance in a 69-run stand for the fourth wicket, but India struck back to keep the hosts in check.
Zimbabwe found brief hope again through a 49-run partnership between Chiwaula and Tatenda Chimugoro but the innings unravelled soon after. The hosts lost their last five wickets in quick succession, collapsing to 148 all out in 37.4 overs. Only three Zimbabwe batters reached double figures.
Brief scores: India 352 for eight in 50 overs (Vihaan Malhotra 109 not out; Abhigyan Kundu 61, Vaibhav Suryavanshi 52, Khilan Patel 30, Aaron George 23, Ayush Mhatre 21, RS Ambrish 21; Tatenda Chimugoro 3/49, Panashe Mazai 2/86, Simbarashe Mudzengerere 2/51) beat Zimbabwe 148 in 37.4 overs (Leeroy Chiwaula 62, Kian Blugnaut 37, Tatenda Chimugoro 29; Udhav Mohan 3/20, Ayush Mhatre 3/14, RS Ambrish 2/19).
