Youth quadrangular series: India U19 register huge 201-run victory over South Africa U19 to win tournament

FILE PHOTO: Sarfaraz Khan scored 67 and picked 2 wickets in the final

In a one-sided final at Visakhapatnam, India U19 defeated South Africa U19 by a massive 201-run margin to win the Youth Quadrangular Series, which also involved U19 sides from Australia and Zimbabwe.

Chasing a challenging 268 for victory, South Africa was all out for 66, with 17-year-old right-arm off-spinner from Banaras, Aamir Gani leading with 3 wickets.

Spinners did the job for India on the day as 18-year-old left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav from Kanpur and Mumbai‘s 15-year-old right-arm off-break bowler Sarfaraz Khan bagged 2 wickets each. 18-year-old medium pacer Deepak Hooda, hailing from Rohtak, also got a wicket.

In an innings, where Jason Smith (23) top-scored for the South Africans, regular wickets never gave the visitors a chance to give a serious challenge to the hosts. 18-year-old skipper Yaseen Valli (13) was the only other batsman to reach double figures in the innings.

Earlier, India U19, put in to bat by Valli, rode on half-centuries from captain Vijay Zol (71 off 90) and Sarfaraz Khan (67 off 58), and useful contributions from Ricky Bhui (46), Deepak Hooda (32) and Akhil Herwadkar (25) to post 267 runs on the board at the end of 50 overs.

18-year-old right-arm medium-pacer Justin Gill was the most successful bowler for the visitors as he grabbed 3 wickets, but went for 63 runs in his 10 overs.

Both the teams had faced off twice before the final in the series and had one win each to show for their efforts.

Kuldeep Yadav finished as the joint highest wicket-taker in the tournament along with Australia’s Tom Andrews, collecting 10 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 19.7.