- India beat Japan by 10 wickets in their second match of the ICC U-19 World Cup.
- India bowled out Japan for 41 runs in 22.5 overs.
- Japan’s total is the joint third lowest total in the history of Under-19 cricket.
Defending champions India outclassed debutant Japan by 10 wickets in their second match of the ICC U-19 World Cup, on Tuesday, 21 January at Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.
Opting to field first, India bowled out a hapless Japan for 41 runs in 22.5 overs with leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi taking four wickets.
Japan’s total is the joint third lowest total in the history of Under-19 cricket. Scotland have the dubious record getting dismissed for 22, the lowest total ever in U-19 history, against Australia during the 2004 ICC U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh
For Japan, opener Shu Noguchi and Kento Ota Dobell were the top scorers with 7 runs but it was the extras column which stood out with 19 runs.
The Indians were guilty of bowling 12 wide deliveries. Kento played a gritty innings of 39-ball 7.
As many as five Japenese batsmen failed to get off the mark as Ravi Bishnoi was the pick among the Indian bowlers with 4/5. Kartik Tyagi (3/10), Akash Singh (2/11) and Vidyadhar Patil (1/4) were the other two bowlers to torment the minnows.
India needed just 4.5 overs to complete formalities with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kumar Kushagra remaining unbeaten on 29 and 13 respectively.
In their tournament-opener on Sunday, India had beaten Sri Lanka by 90 runs.
The game on Tuesday was a complete mismatch with Japan playing a major ICC event for the first time. India captain Priyam Garg, however, said his fast bowlers could have done a better job.
“Very happy with the performance. The spinners were good, but the lines and lengths could have been better from the pacers. There’s no pressure as such. We want to do well, we take every game as it comes.”Priyam Garg, Captain, India U-19 Cricket Team
Japan captain Marcus Thurgate said the team will head back home a lot richer in experience.
"I knew it was going to be a really tough game. We didn't do our best, specially with the batting. We could have done better. We learnt a lot. We can go to Japan and say that we've played against some of the big guys," Thurgate reflected.
"We'll take a lot of positives from this game. We need to learn from our mistakes and keep getting better," said Thurgate.
India play their final league game against New Zealand on Friday.
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