Defending champions India made a winning start to the U19 World Cup in South Africa after they got the better of Bangladesh in their opening contest on Saturday (Jan 20). Led by the energetic Uday Saharan, India won by 84 runs with Adarsh Singh impressing with a 76-run knock for the Boys in Blue. Bangladesh also had some impressive performances with Maruf Mridha scalping five-for with the ball. The win sees both India and Ireland make winning starts in Group A where the USA remain the fourth team.

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India making start

Five-time champions India made a winning start after being asked to bat first at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The Indians did not have a great start to the contest as they lost Arshin Kulkarni (7) and Musheer Khan (3) early in the innings. However, Adarsh Singh and skipper Saharan then stitched a 116-run partnership for the third wicket as the Boys in Blue recovered well after a poor start. Chowdhury Md Rizwan got the better of Adarsh bringing an end to his 76-run innings. Skipper Saharan continued to impress and scored 54 runs before he was sent packing home.

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The Indian tailenders did well Priyanshu Moliya (23), Aravelly Avanish (23) and Sachin Dhas (26) scoring important runs to help the side reach 251/7 in their 50 overs. Maruf Mridha ended with 43/5 while Md Rizwan and Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby got one wicket each.

India dominate with ball

Needing 252 runs to win, Bangladesh faltered at the midway point of the first powerplay. They went from 38/0 to 50/4 in a matter of overs as the Indian bowlers started to take control. While little resilience was shown by Ariful Islam (41) and Mohammad Shihab James (54), Bangladesh continued to lose wickets at the other end. Eventually, they went from 127/4 to 167 all out, losing six wickets in a matter of 49 runs.

Saumy Pandey was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 24/4 while Musheer Khan got two wickets. There were wickets each for Raj Limbani, Arshin Kulkarni and Priyanshu Moliya.

India will next take on Ireland on Thursday (Jan 25) while they will conclude the group stage against the USA on Sunday (Jan 28).

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