India continued their strong performance in the Under-19 World Cup being held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, by registering their third consecutive victory. In a match played on Saturday, the Indian team defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in a rain-affected encounter.
After losing the toss, New Zealand were asked to bat first. They were bowled out for 135 runs in 36.2 overs. Indian bowlers maintained good control throughout the innings. R.S. Ambris picked up four wickets, while Henil Patel took three wickets to restrict the New Zealand batting line-up.
For New Zealand, Callum Samson remained unbeaten with 37 runs, while Selwyn Sanjay scored 28 runs. The duo added a useful 53-run partnership for the eighth wicket, which helped New Zealand cross the 130-run mark.
Initially, New Zealand set a target of 136 runs for India. However, due to rain interruptions, the target was revised to 130 runs. The match also started late and had to be stopped briefly because of bad weather.
Chasing the revised target, India started confidently and reached 130 runs for the loss of three wickets in just 13.3 overs. Captain Ayush Mhatre led from the front with an unbeaten 53 runs off 27 balls, which included two fours and six sixes. Vaibhav Suryavanshi gave strong support by scoring 40 runs off 23 balls, hitting two fours and three sixes. The pair shared a fifty-plus partnership and guided India to an easy win.
With this innings, Vaibhav Suryavanshi achieved a personal milestone. He overtook Sarfaraz Khan in the list of Indian players with the most runs in Under-19 World Cup history. Vaibhav now has 1,087 runs and stands sixth on the list, while Sarfaraz has 1,080 runs.
India’s all-round performance with both bat and ball once again highlighted their strong form in the tournament and boosted their confidence going into the next matches.
