By IANS
Kuala Lumpur : Left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan’s devastating opening spell that fetched five wickets saw India colts thrashing South Africa by six wickets in the ICC Under-19 cricket World Cup at the Kinrara Oval here Tuesday.
It was pitted as the big match of Group B, but Sangwan made it a lopsided contest as he thrived on the swing-friendly conditions to rip through the South African top order.
Sangwan’s jolted the young Proteas picking up first five wickets, which left South Africa reeling at 45-5.
He started the proceedings as early as in the second ball of the match, trapping opener Pieter Malan (0) LBW.
The Delhi pacer’s next victim came in the fifth over as he cleaned bowled Jon-Jon Smuts (3). Two overs later, Reeza Hendricks (12) poked at a full-length delivery, only to sneak it to the wicketkeeper to make it 22 for three for South Africa.
Riley Rossouw, trying to hit a wide Sangwan delivery, was caught for four at slip by Ravinder Jadeja. Sangwan then ripped through Yaseen Vallie’s defence to complete his routing with South Africa reeling at five for 45 in the 13th over.
However, the sixth-wicket partnership between Jonathan Vandiar (53) and captain Wayne Parnell (31) resurrected the Proteas innings to some extent, but spinner Ravindra Jadeja came to the party for India and picked up three quick wickets to ensure that South Africa colts did not cross the 150 mark as they were bundled out for 149 in 30.5 overs.
Sangwan returned with figures of 5-44, the best an India bowler has registered in any Under-19 World Cup so far while Jadeja ended with 3-23 in seven overs.
Chasing the target, India reached 150 in the 42nd over for the loss of four wickets. India received an early jolt when opener Srivatsa Goswami (9) fell to Parnell on 21.
But Taruwar Kohli (54) and last match hero Tanmay Srivastav (47) made sure that there were no more scares as they put up 95 runs for the second wicket and brought India closer to victory.
Captain Virat Kohli, who remained unbeaten on 25 gave the finishing touch and ensured India’s second successive victory in the tournament.
With two wins from as many matches, India is on top of group B with four points, followed by South Africa two points from two matches.
Meanwhile, in the other group matches, defending champions Pakistan beat New Zealand by 27 runs in Johor and Australia defeated Nepal by 96 runs in Penang, while England dumped Bermuda by 10 wickets.
Brief Scores:
India beat South Africa by six wickets
South Africa: 149 all out, 30.1 overs (Jonathan Vandiar 53, Wayne Parnell 31, Pradeep Sangwan 5-44, Ravindra Jadeja 3-23)
India: 153-4, 42 overs (Taruwar Kohli 54, Tanmay Srivastava 47; Wayne Parnell 2-27)