India started their preparations for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2018 with a comfortable victory in the first warm-up match played in Christchurch against South Africa.
Indian batsmen seized control through a 138-run fourth-wicket partnership between Aryan Juyal (86 off 92 balls) and Himanshu Rana (68 off 69 balls), which was supplemented by several small but useful efforts, taking the side to 332 for eight in 50 overs
Akhona Mnyanka and Thando Ntini shared five scalps for South Africa either side of the partnership.
India fast bowler Ishan Porel then ripped through South Africa’s top-order with a four-wicket haul, while Abhishek Sharma followed his useful 35-run knock with two wickets even as the 2014 champions were dismissed for 143 runs in 38.3 overs.
For South Africa, Jean du Plessis fought a lone battle while scoring 50 off 82 balls.
India captain Prithvi Shaw said the team’s batsmen, as well as bowlers, were acclimatizing well. “It was a good win for us, just getting used to these conditions. We dominated and executed quite well, and we are practicing hard so all credit to the boys.”
Brief scores: India U19India 332-8 in 50 overs (Aryan Juyal 86, Himanshu Rana 68, Abhishek Sharma 35, Manjot Kalra 31; Akhona Mnyaka 3-40, Thando Ntini 2-47) beat South Africa U-19 143 all out in 38.3 overs (Jean du Plessis 50; Ishan Porel 4-23, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 2-15, Abhishek Sharma 2-16) by 189 runs
