NEW DELHI: In their last group match at the
U-19 World Cup
in Bloemfontein on Sunday, record five-time champions India are expected to easily defeat USA after securing a super six berth.
India will lead the group standings if they defeat the struggling USA team, which is largely composed of
Indian Americans
. India defeated Ireland and Bangladesh in their opening two matches.
The American team enters the match having lost to Bangladesh and Ireland in their previous encounters.
Bangladesh did exert some pressure on the Indian hitters, but the team captained by
Uday Saharan
did not play badly against the Irish.
The top three teams from each of the groups A, B, C, and D advance to the Super Six.
While left-arm spinner
Saumy Pandey
has been the best bowler with seven wickets in two games, left-arm pacer Naman Tiwari has been impressive up front.
With a hundred against Ireland, number three Musheer Khan showed a lot of promise. Like his older brother Sarfaraz, he would be hoping to pile on the runs.
Arshin Kulkarni, the opener, would like to progress into the next round with a high score after making 7 and 32 in the previous games.
With two consecutive fifty-score innings, captain Saharan has led from the front and will look to capitalize against a weaker squad like the USA.
By scoring the huge hits in the conclusion of the innings, Sachin Dhas has done a good job of finishing the game.
At Mangaung Oval, it will be India's third straight game.
To give the Indians any bother, the USA will need to step up their game. They were all out for 105 against Ireland in the first two games as a result of their poor batting performance.
Squads:
India: Arshin Kulkarni, Adarsh Singh, Rudra Mayur Patel, Sachin Dhas, Priyanshu Moliya, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (c), Aravelly Avanish Rao,
Saumy Kumar Pandey
, Murugan Abhishek, Innesh Mahajan,
Dhanush
Gowda, Aaradhya Shukla, Raj Limbani and Naman Tiwari
USA: Amogh Arepally, Rayaan Bhagani, Aaryan Batra, Khush Bhalala, Prannav Chettipalayam, Arya Garg, Siddarth Kappa, Bhavya Mehta, Aarin Nadkarni, Manav Nayak, Parth Patel, Rishi Ramesh (c),
Utkarsh Srivastava
, Ateendra Subramanian, Aryaman Suri. Reserves: Arjun Mahesh, Ansh Rai,
Aryan
Satheesh
(With PTI inputs)
English (US) ·