Harnoor and Raghuvanshi fifties guide Covid-hit India to Under-19 World Cup quarter-finals
Ireland slipped to 66 for 6 and were swept aside in Tarouba
India 307 for 5 (Harnoor 88, Raghuvanshi 79, Bawa 42, Sherzad 3-79) beat Ireland 133 all out (Macbeth 32, Tambe 2-8, Gautam 2-11, Sangwan 2-23) by 174 runs
Openers Harnoor and Raghuvanshi had both failed in the first game against South Africa, but with the usual No. 3 Rasheed and No. 4 Dhull not available, both batters had an added responsibility. They were, however, unperturbed in their batting style, attacking right from the start. The right-handed Raghuvanshi hit a hat-trick of fours in the third over off Ireland spinner Matthew Humphreys and followed it up with three boundaries off offspinner Nathan McGuire to race away to 26 in 22 balls.
After that, Harnoor found the gaps to hit back-to-back fours off seamer Muzamil Sherzad, and by the time the tenth over was up, India were 68 for 0.
Raghuvanshi reached his fifty first, off 41 balls, when he pulled a short delivery from Humphreys over deep midwicket for six. Harnoor’s scoring-rate kept increasing steadily, and by the 21st over, he too had reached his half-century in 56 balls. A series of fours – all around the ground – then flowed from Harnoor’s bat and soon enough he had caught up to Raghuvanshi’s score, with both batters in their seventies.
The stand was finally broken in the 26th over when India were 164 for 0. Raghuvanshi, on 79, was caught behind off left-arm spinner Jamie Forbes. The opening partnership gave No. 3 Bawa the liberty to settle in, but the 35th over brought about Harnoor’s end, as he was dismissed lbw by Humphreys on 88.
With eight wickets in hand, a big finish was expected. It came with Sindhu playing aggressive shots off his pads on numerous occasions. After Sindhu fell in the 46th over, India promoted the seam bowler Hangargekar, and he got into the groove by hammering Humphreys for two sixes down the ground. In the 50th over, he spoiled Sherzad’s spell by crunching a hat-trick of sixes and ending the innings with a four to third man.
Ireland’s chase of 308 began sedately. The first wicket came when left-arm seamer Ravi Kumar had Liam Doherty caught at midwicket in the fourth over. Hangargekar, on a high after at a strike rate of 229, then trapped Jack Dickson lbw. Bawa’s direct-hit then sent David Vincent back with Ireland at 17 for 3.
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
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