With an impressive all-round performance, India under-19 team started its tour of South Africa with a comfortable nine-wicket win in the first Youth ODI at the Buffalo Park here.
Priyam Garg Captain and Khanya Cotani of the Coca-Cola South Africa under-19s, during the 2019 One Day International Under-19 game between South Africa and India at Buffalo Park in East London on on 26 December 2019 © Deryck Foster/BackpagePix
India U19 beat SA by 9 wickets in first youth ODI
South Africa Under-19 team chose to bat first, where they folded the match for 187 in 48.3 overs. After that India under-19 team went to the field to perform their innings and dished out a solid batting display to overhaul the target, and scored 190 for 1 in 42.3 overs on Thursday in order to take 1-0 lead in the series.
The decision of South Africa to bat fist backfired as their batsmen failed to convert the beginning into great scores with Luke Beaufort top-scoring with a 91-ball 64.
Coming to India U-19 team, Ravi Bishnoi took three wickets, while Kartik Tyagi, Shubhang Hegde and Atharva Ankolekar on the other hand picked up two wickets each.
While chasing for the target, openers Divyansh Saxena (86 not out) and N Tilak Varma (59) shared a 127-run stand in order to take the game away from South Africa.
As soon as Varma was let go by Achille Cloete, Saxena, who blasted 11 fours in his 116-ball knock, as well as Kumar Kushagra (43 not out) helped India thriller home with 7.3 overs to spare.
Both the teams India and South Africa are going to meet once again in the second match of the series on Saturday.
Here are the brief scores from the competition: India U-19: 190/1 (Divyaansh Saxena 86, N Tilak Varma 59; Achille Cloete 1/42) beat South Africa U-19: 187 all out (Luke Beaufort 64, Jack Lees 27; Ravi Bishnoi 3/36) by nine wickets.
