India Under-19 thrash South Africa U-19 by 9 wickets in 1st ODI

Image Credits: Twitter/@BCCI

The Indian men's Under-19 team kicked off their tour to South Africa with a crushing nine-wicket win in the opening ODI of the three-match series at the Buffalo Park in East London on Thursday. 

The win saw the India U-19 side take 1-0 lead in the series, which is serving as the warm-up to International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup. 

Opting to bat first, South Africa U-19 struggled against the Indian U-19 bowlers and could only manage to post a lowly score of 187, despite Luke Beaufort's decent knock of 64 runs.

While opener Andrew Louw (26) and Jack Lees (27) failed to convert good starts into a big score, opener Ruan Terblanche (9), Pheku Moletsane (1), Tiaan van Vuuren (6) all dismissed for single digits. 

For India Under-19, Ravi Bishnoi was the pick of the bowlers as he bagged three wickets while conceding 36 runs. Meanwhile, Kartik Tyagi, Shubhang Hegde and Atharva Ankolekar all chipped in with two wickets each to help their side bundle out South Africa U-19 in 48.3 overs.

In reply, opener Divyansh Saxena not only pulled back a blistering unbeaten 86-run knock, but also stitched crucial partnerships of 127 and 63 runs with his opening partner N Tilak Varma (59) and Kumar Kushagra (unbeaten at 43), respectively as India chased down the target in 42.3 overs. 

The two sides will now lock horns in the second ODI of the series on December 28 at East London. 

On a related note, the ICC U-19 World Cup is slated to take place in South Africa from January 17 to February 9, 2020.