India beat Ireland by 174 runs to go to the ICC U19 World Cup quarterfinals
India won by an innings and a half over Ireland at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago
With a magnificent batting effort against Ireland, India made it two victories from two at the ICC Under-19 World Cup, despite Covid-19 taking out six of their players, including leader Yash Dhull. On their way to a 174-run victory, the four-time winners made 307 for five from their 50 overs, putting them atop Group B.
Meanwhile, three-time winners Australia were pushed by a strong Scotland side but came out on top, providing the ideal response to their loss to Sri Lanka on Monday.
India won by an innings and a half over Ireland at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago, following a 45-run triumph against South Africa on Saturday. Harnoor Singh set the tone for his squad, returning to his best form after only scoring one run in Saturday's win over South Africa.
He made 88 this time before being lbw by Matthew Humphreys. However, India had already surpassed 200 points, thanks to Angkrish Raghuvanshi's 79. They then set a difficult goal of 308 for Tim Tector's team to chase down after they beat Uganda by 39 runs to start the competition.
Ireland struggled to gain a foothold in the game and maintain up with the requisite run rate on the powerplay. They were left reeling as spinner Rajvardhan Hangargekar struck in only the third over, sending Jack Dickson back to the dressing room.
Any thoughts of a comeback were dashed when Joshua Cox's thick edge was collected by wicketkeeper Dinesh Bana at the second attempt as he returned to the pavilion for 28. Ireland were eventually knocked out for 133, with Aneeshwar Gautam taking two for 11 at a 2.75 economy rate, possibly the best of the Men in Blue attack.
India will play Uganda next, and a win will put them in first place in Group B, while Ireland will play South Africa.
Ireland U19 133 in 39 overs (Scott Macbeth 32; Kaushal Tambe 2/8, Aneeshwar Gautam 2/11, Garv Sangwan 2/23) defeated India U19 307/5 (Harnoor Singh 88, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 79, Raj Bawa 42; Muzamil Sherzad 3/79).
