India crush Young Windies

DHAKA: West Indies Under-19s suffered a setback in a bid to make the semi-finals of the ICC Youth World Cup when they lost their day/night second Super League match to India Under-19s by 96 runs with 10.5 overs to spare at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Chasing a target of 254 in 50 overs under the lights, West Indies were bowled out for 157 in 39.1 overs. Outside Assad Fudadin’s top score of 51 from 84 balls and his half-century stand for the fifth wicket with Jonathan Augustus, there was little substance or stability from the rest of the batting. Abhishek Sharma took four wickets for 28 runs from 7.1 overs to undermine any revival for the West Indies, after Gaurav Dhiman took three early wickets for 26 runs in seven overs to rock the top order batting. Suresh Raina took two for 23 from ten overs. “Batting under the lights made a lot of difference in who won the game because the West Indies team is not accustomed to playing cricket under lights,” Windies coach Clyde Butts told CMC Radio Sports. “But I still think we should have performed better than we did. I do not think we batted as well as we could have and we lost wickets at crucial times and that cost us the match.”

The former Guyana captain and West Indies off-spinner believes the team has to win its remaining matches in the Super League to have any chance of progressing. “I still think we can advance to the semi-finals because I think we can beat South Africa,” he said. “We have a good team and I have every confidence in them.” There was no comeback for the West Indies after they crashed to 54 for four in the 13th over. Kirk Edwards was bowled by Rudrapa Singh for one in the second over to begin to decline before Gaurav removed Lendl Simmons for 27, Tishan Maraj for 12, and Denesh Ramdin for three in the space of four overs. Fudadin and Augustus, with 29, repaired the damage with their partnership of 63 over 15.3 overs, but when Sharma entered the attack, the Windies innings hit the rocks again and the last six wickets tumbled for 40 runs in 11.2 overs, as the tail subsided in a flurry of desperate strokes.

Earlier, Raina led the way for India with 66 from 84 balls, while their captain Ambati Rayudu scored 47 and Dinesh Karthik made 46 as they powered to a victory that left Group one of the Super League wide open, with all four teams having won one and lost one of their two matches. India were made to work hard for their runs after choosing to bat. Aiyudda Uthappa and Shikha Dhawan were early wickets for Ravi Rampaul and Mervin Matthew respectively, but three successive half-century stands revived the innings. Raini and Rakesh Solanki added 51 for the third wicket, then Raina and Rayudu shared 53 for the fourth wicket, before Raina and Karthik added another 75 for the fifth wicket. India were well placed for the late rampage on 197 for four in the 42nd over, but three consecutive run-outs, including Karthik, checked their progress.   

Scoreboard
INDIA vs WEST INDIES
India inns:
A Uthappa c Maraj b Rampaul 3
S Dhawan c Simmons b Matthew 6
R Solanki run out 33
A Rayudu c Edwards b Bachan 47
S Raina c Augustus b Rampaul 66
K Karthik run out 46
S Singh run out 9
G Dhiman run out 8
A Sharma c Rampaul b Augustus 3
P Gupta not out 3
R Singh not out 10
EXTRAS (B2, LB1, W8, NB8) 19
Total for nine wickets (50 overs) 253
Fall of wickets: 14; 18; 69; 122; 197; 219; 236; 237; 240.
BOWLING: Rampaul 10-1-55-2 (NB8); Matthew 9-1-32-1 (W2); Baker 8-0-56-0 (W3); Bachan 10-0-54-1; Sebastien 10-0-36-0 (W3); Augustus 3-0-17-1.

West Indies inns:
T Maraj c Karthik b Dhiman 12
K Edwards b Singh 1
L Simmons c Raina b Dhiman 27
A Fudadin c Singh b Sharma 51
D Ramdin c Singh b Dhiman 3
J Augustus c Rayudu b Sharma 29
R Rampaul b Sharma 3
L Sebastien c Uthappa b Raina 1
M Matthew c & b Raina 8
L Baker not out 5
R Bachan c Uthappa b Sharma 2
EXTRAS (LB5, W8, NB2) 15
Total (39.1 overs) 157
Fall of wickets: 3; 36; 49; 54; 117; 135; 138; 150; 150; 157.
BOWLING: Dhiman 7-1-26-3; R Singh 8-0-39-1 (W5); S Singh 2-0-14-0 (NB2); Gupta 5-0-22-0 (W1); Raina 10-3-23-2; Sharma 7.1-0-28-4 (W1).
Result: India Under-19s won by 96 runs.
Man of the Match: Suresh Raina.