U-19 Cricket World Cup: Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar star as India crush Ireland by 79 runs

Mirpur: India started off their ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup campaign on a winning note as they crushed Ireland by 79 runs on Thursday at Shere Bangla National Stadium.

Riding on the half-centuries by Sarfaraz Khan (74) and Washington Sundar (62), India colts managed to win the match quite comprehensively in their Group D encounter.

After being offered to bat first, India got off to a poor start losing opener Ishan Kishan for a duck in the third ball of the match. After losing the skipper, Indian top-order collapsed and the team found itself wobbling at 55 for four in 17 overs.

However, Khan and Sundar added 110-run stand for the fifth wicket to pull India out of trouble.

Zeeshan Ansari played a little cameo later in the innings scoring 36 runs off 36 to help India cross the 250-run mark and they eventually set a target of 269 runs.

When Ireland came in to chase the total, they lost both the openers Jack Tector (1) and Stephen Doheny (4) cheaply.

Despite fifties from Lorcan Tucker (57) and William McClintock (58), India managed to defend the total by bowling Ireland out for 189 in 49.1 overs.

With the impressive figures 8-15-3, Rahul Batham was the pick among the bowlers.

India are scheduled to play their next match against England on January 29.