India Under-19s continued their winning streak in the ongoing Tri-Nation tournament in India with a four-wicket win against hosts Sri Lanka Under-19s in Colombo. Top-order batsman, MS Washington Sundar (61) and Virat Singh (60*) in the lower middle-order helped the visitors chase down 222-run target with 13 balls to spare.
After Ishan Kishan, who led the team in their last game of the league phase elected to field, the Khaleel Ahmed-led attack restricted Sri Lanka to 221 for nine. After giving India their first breakthrough by castling Avishka Fernando with nine runs on the board, the pacer claimed three more to finish with four for 55 runs. The home team’s top-scorer, opener Kaveen Bandara (74) and the second highest scorer Kamindu Mendis (65) were amongst the bowler’s wickets.
Shubham Mavi, Rahul Batham and Sundar too chipped in with a wicket each as India sent back the rest of the batsmen for low scores.
Chasing the modest target, India lost openers Himanshu Rana and Ishan Kishan to Lahiru Kumara early in the innings and were left on 37 for two. Sundar, who came in to bat at No 3, kept the innings on course with a 77-ball knock. Remaining unbeaten, Virat took the team comfortably across the line. After a 63-run partnership with Mahipal Lomror (32) he was involved in a 41-run unbroken stand with Batham (15*) which took the visiting team to victory.
Brief scores: SL U19 221/9 in 50 overs (K Bandara 74, K Mendis 65, K Ahmed 4/55) lost Ind U19 223/6 in 47.5 overs (MSW Sundar 61, V Singh 60*, L Kumara 2/33) by 4 wickets.
