Riding high on opening batsman Shubham Gill’s 90 and impressive bowling display, India defeated Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2018. Prithvi Shaw-led Indian colts finished the group stage on a high note with a clinical performance at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. The fantastic results showed why twice world champions are serious contenders to lift the trophy for the third time.

India placed in the Group B along with Australia, Zimbabwe and Papua Guinea emerged on top of the points table. Playing Zimbabwe at Bay Oval, Rahul Dravid-coached unit put on a phenomenal show. After wrapping the opponents for a meagre total of 154 runs, Shubham Gill and Harvik Desai achieved the east target within 22 overs. Gill smashed 90 runs in 59 deliveries that included 14 fours and one six. Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-middle order batsman Desai moved up in the batting line-up played a role of good support to Gill in his innings of 73-ball 56 runs.

This was back to back 10-wicket victory for Team India who earlier beat minnows Papua Guinea at the same ground. Anukul Roy was wrecker-in-chief for India against Zimbabwe picking four wickets giving 20 runs in 7.1 overs. Other bowlers were also among wickets with Arshdeep Singh and Abhishek Sharma picking two, Shivam Mavi and Riyan Parag ending with one each. Bowlers have shown a great intent by going for the kill, giving an edge to the side.

Meanwhile, Australia also a Group B team hammered Papua Guinea by a huge-margin of 311 runs to advance to ICC U-19 World Cup 2018 quarters. Among the other results are – In Group D, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka in the battle of subcontinent nations to seal their quarterfinals berth. In a close encounter held at Cobham Oval, Whangarei, Pakistan registered a three-wicket victory to knock the island nation out of the tournament. England placed in Group C also secured their place in the last eight by beating Bangladesh by seven wickets.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 19, 2018 02:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).