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India, Australia in U-19 World Cup last eight

Tauranga (New Zealand) - Men In Blue will clash with Bangladesh after outplaying Zimbabwe

India crushed Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in a Group B clash to maintain their all-win record at the ICC U19 World Cup on Friday.

Left-arm spinner Anukul Sudhakar Roy spearheaded the Indian bowling effort with figures of 4 for 20 as Zimbabwe were dismissed for 154 runs in 48.1 overs.

Openers Harvik Desai and Shubman Gill then produced unbeaten half-centuries to carry India to victory in just 21.4 overs.

The Indian boys have thus finished the opening round at the top of Group B with six points after winning all their three matches.

They will face Bangladesh, who are second in Group C, in the quarterfinals.

Zimbabwe are out of the tournament, having finished third in the group with two points from three matches.

Electing to bat first, Zimbabwe ran into trouble right at the start when opener Gregory Dollar was bowled by Indian fast bowler Shivam Mavi in the third over.

The other Zimbabwe opener Wesley Madhevere was then involved in two partnerships with Dion Myers and Milton Shumba.

The trio did their best to keep the Indian bowlers at bay, but struggled to keep the run rate going.

Once the three of them had returned to the pavilion, the batsmen in Zimbabwe's middle and lower order were cleaned up by the Indian bowlers with four of them falling before reaching double figures.

Shumba was the highest scorer for Zimbabwe with 36 runs off 59 deliveries.

Apart from Roy, Arshdeep and Abhishek Sharma also bowled well, ending up with a couple of wickets each.

Desai and Gill then put on an unbeaten opening stand of 155 runs to power the Indians to an easy victory.

Gill scored a quickfire 90 off 59 balls which was studded with 13 boundaries and a six.

Desai produced a steady 56 off 73 balls with eight boundaries and a six.

In another Group B match on Friday, Australia thrashed minnows Papua New Guinea (PNG) by 312 runs to qualify for the knockout rounds.

Australia finished second in the group with four points from three matches.

Asked to bat first, a century from opener Nathan McSweeney coupled with half-centuries by Jason Sangha and Paran Uppal powered Australia to an imposing total of 370 for 8 in their 50 overs.

The boys from Down Under suffered an early blow when PNG pacer Semo Kamea bowled opener Max Bryant in the second over.

But Nathan and Jason got together to produce a 250-run partnership which gave Australia the upper hand.

Nathan scored 156 runs off 111 balls with 18 boundaries and four hits over the fence.

Jason made 88 runs with five boundaries and two sixes studding his 102-ball knock.

James Tau dismissed the duo off consecutive deliveries in the 36th over, but Uppal walked to score 61 runs off 42 deliveries to help Australia finish their innings on a strong note.

Tau, Kamea, Leke Morea and Daure Aiga claimed two wickets each for PNG.

Pacer Jason Ralston then returned figures of 7/15 as Australia bundled out PNG for a mere 59 runs.

Morea was the only PNG batsman who managed to post double figures.



Brief scores:

Zimbabwe 154 in 48.1 overs (Milton Shumba 36; Anukul Roy 4/20) vs India 155 for no loss in 21.4 overs (Shubman Gill 90 not out, Harvik Desai 56 not out).


Australia 370 for 8 in 50 overs (Nathan McSweeney 156, Jason Sangha 88, Param Uppal 61) vs Papua New Guinea 59 in 24.5 overs (Jason Ralston 7-15).