Abhigyan Kundu toyed with the Malaysia bowlers as he raced away to a belligerent double century in their U-19s Asia Cup match in Dubai on Tuesday. In reply to India’s mammoth 408 for seven, Malaysia crashed to 93 and handing out a 315-run victory to their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-bat came to the crease in the 11th over and remained unbeaten to finish with a 125-ball 209. As the India vs Malaysia match doesn’t have ‘official youth ODI’ status, it means that South Africa’s Jorich Van Schalkwyk, who had got 215 off 153 balls against Zimbabwe in Harare earlier this year, remains the only batter in the double centurion list. Bangladesh cricketer Soumya Sarkar to had hit a double-century against Qatar in 2012. He scored 209 in 135 balls, but that was also in a game without official youth ODI status.
India had lost skipper Ayush Mhatre with just 21 on the board but Vaibhav Suryavanshi kept the rival bowlers on the hunt. Despite losing Vihaan Malhotra (7), Vaibhav went on to make a quickfire 26-ball 50 before becoming the third wicket to fall with the score reading 87.
Kundu show all the way
Thereafter, it was a Kundu show. Kundu found an able partner in Vedant Trivedi and the duo added 209 runs for the fourth wicket, a partnership which flowed from the 11th over to the 41st over. Trivedi fell for a 106-ball 90 with seven fours to his credit.
When Trivedi was dismissed, Kundu was on 128 off 92 balls. He sped up in the last 10 overs, adding 81 runs in 33 balls, taking India past the 400-run mark. Kundu had earlier scored 32 not out in 17 balls against UAE and 22 in 32 balls against Pakistan.
For Malaysia, Muhammad Akram was the standout performer, returning 5 for 89 from his ten overs, the left-arm medium pacer victims including Suryavanshi, Vihaan and Harvansh Pangalia.
There was nothing to rave about the Malaysian reponse as the batters failed to apply themselves. There was a virtual procession as the Indian bowlers struck at regular intervals. No.9 bat Hamzah Panggi made a topscore of 35 as they were bundled out for 93. Deepesh Devendran finished with figures of
India are on top of the Group A table in the tournament, having earlier beaten UAE and Pakistan. Malaysia are bottom of the group, having lost to the same opponents earlier.
SCOREBOARD
India U-19s: Ayush Mhatre c Patro b Sathnakumaran 14, Vaibhav Suryavanshi c Muhammad Nurhanif b Muhammad Akram 50, Vihaan Malhotra c Muhammad Aalif b Muhammad Akram 7, Vedant Trivedi c & b Krishnamurthi 90, Abhigyan Kundu (not out) 209, Harvansh Pangalia b Muhammad Akram 5, Kanishk Chouhan c Afinid b Muhammad Akram 14, Khilan Patel c Afinid b Muhammad Akram 2, Deepesh Devendran (not out) 4; Extras: (Lb1, W12) 13. Total: (For 7 wickets in 50 overs) 408.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-47, 3-87, 4-296, 5-315, 6-402, 7-404.
Bowling: Muhammad Akram 10-0-89-5, Nagineswaran Sathnakumaran 10-0-110-1, Hamzah Panggi 10-0-63-0, Muhammad Nurhanif 6-0-46-0, Jaashwin Krishnamurthi 9-0-54-1, Muhammad Fathul Muin 5-0-45-0.
Malaysia U-19s: Azib Wajdi b Singh 0, Mohammad Hairil c Chouhan b Mohan 0, Muhd Afinid c Mhatre b Deepesh 12, Deeaz Patro c Mohan b K Patel 13, Muhammad Aalif c Chouhan b Deepesh 1, Muhammad Fathul Muin c Mhatre b Deepesh 0, Nagineswaran Sathnakumaran lbw Deepesh 5, Hamzah Panggi c Deepesh b Chouhan 35, Jaashwin Krishnamurthi c Trivedi b Mohan 10, Muhammed Nurhanif (not out) 0; Extras: (LB 2, W9). 11. Total: All out in 32.1 overs) 93.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-10, 3-18, 4-22, 5-30, 6-32, 7-38, 8-57, 9-93.
Bowling: Kishan Singh 6-2-17-1, Udhav Mohan 7.1-0-24-2, Deepesh Devendran 7-1-22-5, Khilan Patel 9-3-21-1, Kanishk Chouhan 3-1-7-1.
