ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018: India vs Papua New Guinea, 5 talking points

Facing Papua New Guinea in their second group match of the Under-19 World, the Indian squad, led by Prithvi Shaw, made light work of their task, taking no more than 21.5 overs to shoot down the rivals for a paltry 64 and then chasing down the target in just 8 overs.

After defeating three-time champions Australia with complete dominance in their first encounter of the tournament, the Indian team have already been tagged favourites for the event and today’s performance only went on to reaffirm that.

Here are five talking points from the match.

Spinner Anukul Roy rips through the batting order with a fifer

With all eyes on the Indian seamers in the game against Australia, young Anukul Roy stepped up today to leave PNG reeling after snatching up the his career best figures in the match, ending with 5/14 in 6.5 overs.

His wicket of James Tau, off a delivery that angled in through the pad-bad gap showed immense maturity, as he soon realised that bowling outside off was hardly bearing fruit. He bowled the slower deliveries through the air and his variations with the quick sliders and the arm-balls kept bamboozling the batting unit of a team that looked devoid of any technique or patience.

Four ducks scripted by the PNG batsmen

The young side of PNG looked completely at sea against the pace and spin being unleashed by the Indian spinners and seamers and this fact can be gauged by running down through their scorecard. Four of the batsman dismissed went back to the pavilion for no score and with the high score of the innings just 15, the inevitable was evident.

Heagi Toua, the number three batsman was bowled out by a quick inswinging Yorker and once Ovia Sam was dismissed in the eighteenth over, the lower order could hardly put up any resistance. Leke Morea, James Tau and Semo Kamea were all unable to get any runs against their name and their dismissals only quickened India’s fate in the game.

Prithvi Shaw continues his good form

Very few batsmen have the ability to keep their focus intact even against a team that fails to challenge them, but captain Prithvi Shaw failed to fall prey to that, guiding India home with a well-crafted fifty in just 39 balls. 48 of those runs came in boundaries.

His opening partner Manjot Kalra faced just none deliveries in their 48-ball partnership, again reflecting on the dominance portrayed by the colt.

His late punches through covers and square drives were perfectly timed and one even witnessed the famed wrist work he is known for as he kept sending away short deliveries and good length deliveries towards the boundary.

Even the well-thought of deliveries by James Tau were made to look easy and at Mount Maunganui, we saw the class of Shaw once again.

The Indian pacers continue to impress

After scarring the Aussie batsmen with their pace, the young Indian seamers continued with their impressive form in their second World Cup match as well. Though they struggled to find their momentum in the first two overs of the match, the third began the downslide, with Igo Mahuru unable to react to a Shivam Mavi delivery that nipped in back sharply at the pads.

His next wicket was a perfect Yorker bowled at 140kmph, tossing out the leg-stump of Heagi Toua.

Though Kamlesh Nagarkoti was smashed for a few boundaries, his speeds kept touching the 140kmph mark as well, even going up to 145kmph- a delivery where Kevau Tau nicked behind to the keeper without anyone even appealing!

He finally opened his wickets column when he had Leke Morea bowled from a 142kmph delivery; beating him for pace and before the batsman could even realise, the ball had dismantled the stumps behind.

India becomes the first team to qualify for the next round

With 4 points in 2 games and an impressive Net Run Rate of +3.89, the Indian u-19 team became the first team in the tournament to qualify for the Quarter-Finals, which begin from 22nd January in Christchurch.

With India playing their last round-robin match against Zimbabwe on 19th January at the Bay Oval, one should not be surprised to see India top group B, which will serve as a morale-boost going ahead in the tournament.