India earned an emphatic 108-run victory against West Indies in their first warm-up match at the Providence Stadium in Guyana in built-up to Under-19 World Cup which will kick off from January 14.
Riding on Nishant Sindhu's unbeaten 78 and captain Yash Dhull's sedate 52, India posted a target of 279-run, which the Carribeans failed to chase and were bowled out to 170. Kushal Tambe was the pick of the bowlers for India as he returned with a spell of 3/30.
Batting first, India got off to a sloppy start as both the openers, Harnoor Singh (9) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (1), were removed cheaply to leave the scoreboard at 17/2. Shaik Rasheed (26 off 63) then showed some resistance to take hold of the situation as he steered the Indian innings to 104/3 before felling to Johann Layne.
Then came the skipper Yash Dhull who steadied India's boat with a 67-ball knock which was decorated with six fours and two sixes. Aaradhya Yadav also contributed with his 42 off 40 balls. The star of the match remained Nishant, who stood tall with a splendid 76-ball knock which was loaded with three big ones and seven boundaries. He bolstered the Men in Blues' innings and guided them to post a competitive total of 278/6. ForWest Indies, Layne remained the pick of the bowlers as he scalped 3/51.
In reply, the Caribbeans couldn't do much and were seen in all sorts of bother before the fiery Indian bowlers. Kushal paired up with Manav Parakh to dismantle the Windies' batting line up as the former plucked 3/30 and the later returned with 3/34. Garv Sangwan (2/18) and Anishwar Gautam (2/37) also shone with the bowl to wrap the Windies innings to a paltry 170.
India will next face Australia on Tuesday (January 11) in their second warm-up match.
Coming from a glory of Under-19 Asia Cup trophy, Team India is high on confidence and will be entering the ICC event as one of the favourites to lift the trophy.
The Yash Dhull-led side will kick off its U-19 World Cup campaign against South Africa U-19 on Saturday (January 15). They will next face Ireland U-19 and Uganda U-19 on January 19 and 22, respectively.
