Brisbane, Aug 8: India beat Afghanistan by 52 runs at Fred Kratzman Oval in the second warm-up game before the ICC U19 World Cup.
India piled on 271 runs for seven wickets after opting to bat first, propelled by their top three batsmen. Opening the innings with Unmukt Chand, Prashant Chopra made 67 off 90 with five fours and a six. Skipper Chand, who has been in good nick, slammed a 61-ball 70 with six boundaries and three hits over the fence before Shabir Noori ended his blitzkrieg. By then the duo had added 126 runs for the first wicket.
After adding another 51 runs with Baba Aparajith, Prashant Chopra departed in the 30th over. Aparajith, who had replaced Chand in the middle, smashed a 75-ball 83 peppered with five fours and two sixes before Noori halted his run fest. He was also involved in a 55-run stand with Akshdeep Nath who contributed 20 off 45 before he was sent back by Javed Ahmadi. Hanuma Vihari, who came in to bat next, returned two overs later caught by Mohibullah Paak off Abdul Naseri. With 16 balls left in the innings, Aparajith walked back to the dressing room and India lost two more wickets in the last over. Wicketkeeper Smit Patel was castled by Noori for 11 followed by Kamal Passi (6).
Noori's four for 45 runs was the best bowling effort for Afghanistan in a match where they used as many as eight bowling changes.
Defending the total, Harmeet Singh claimed an impressive five-for. The left-arm spinner gave India important breakthroughs to help wrap up the opposition for just 219.
Although Afghanistan put up a fight, the Indian bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals and prevented them from building big partnerships. Vikas Mishra castled Afsar Khan with Afghanistan on 42 to end the opening stand. But Javed Ahmadi and Hashmatullah Shaidi added 49 runs before the former was dismissed by Ravi Kant Singh for 50. Just as the partnership between Shaidi and Noori began to take shape, Harmeet struck to claim his first wicket, dismissing Shaidi for 32. Noori, who was the leading wicket-taker for Afghanistan, put up a solid resistance. The batsman added 62 runs to the total before he was trapped leg before by Harmeet, while Aparajith chipped in with the wicket of Noor-ul-Haq. With Najibullah Zadran run out for a single, Afghanistan were six down for 197. Sniffing victory, the India bowlers closed in on the batsmen. Harmeet claimed three more wickets – Mohibullah Paak, Nasir Ahmadzai and Yamin Ahmadzai – while Mishra picked Aftab Alam to end the game with 22 balls to spare.
India will now take on West Indies in their first match of the ICC U19 World Cup on Sunday, Aug 12 at 5:00 am IST.
Brief scores: India 271/7 in 50 overs (B Aparajith 83, U Chand 70, P Chopra 67, S Noori 4/45) beat Afghanistan 219 all out in 46.2 overs (S Noori 62, J Ahmadi 50, H Singh 5/ 32, V Mishra 2/25) by 52 runs
