Bulawayo, Jan 24 (IANS) The Indian men’s U19 team maintained its winning run in the 2026 ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup with a seven‑wicket win over New Zealand in a rain‑affected group stage match at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Saturday.
Asked to bat first, New Zealand faltered early as pacer R.S. Ambrish struck twice in quick succession on his way to finishing with figures of 4-29. Henil Patel also took three wickets as New Zealand were bowled out for 135.
Despite losing Aaron George for seven, India’s chase was steady. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made 40 off 23 balls, and captain Ayush Mhatre struck 53 off 27 deliveries to put their side in control, before Vihaan Malhotra (17 not out) and Vedant Trivedi (13 not out) guided them home.
New Zealand struggled to get going as Ambrish dismissed Hugo Bogue (4) and Tom Jones (2). It became 17/3 when Aryan Mann was out to Henil. That quickly became 22/5 as Marco Alpe (1) and Snehith Reddy (10) also fell. Cotter led the fightback, with Samson and Sanjay also chipping in to take New Zealand into three figures.
India looked unflustered in their chase despite the early loss of George, who was castled for seven by Mason Clarke. Sooryavanshi and Mhatre, who had a lean run so far, combined excellently to get the chase in India’s favour, before Malhotra and Trivedi finished the job through an unbeaten 29-run stand to secure the top spot for India in Group B.
The win also places India in Group 2 of the Super Six stage, alongside England, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe. India, the five-time champions, will play their next match against Zimbabwe on Tuesday and are set to face off against Pakistan on February 1.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 135 all out in 36.2 overs (Callum Samson 37 not out, Selwin Sanjay 28; R.S. Ambrish 4-29, Henil Patel 3-23) lost to India 130/3 in 13.3 overs (Ayush Mhatre 53, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 40; Selwin Sanjay 1-22, Mason Clarke 1-29) by seven wickets via DLS method
–IANS
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