India overpower USA in U19 World Cup, two youngsters steal the show
Bulawayo (The Uttam Hindu) – India won the first match of the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2026 played at the Queens Sports Club on Thursday. Team India won the rain-affected match against the USA by 6 wickets using the Duckworth-Lewis method.
The USA, who lost the toss and were put into bat, were all out for 107 in 35.2 overs. They lost Amrinder Gill (1) for just 1 run. From there, Sahil Garg steadied the innings with a 28-run partnership for the second wicket with Utkarsh Srivastava. Sahil was dismissed for 16, followed shortly by Arjun Mahesh, who also made the same number of runs. The team had lost five wickets by the score of 39. From there, Nitish Sudini added 30 runs for the sixth wicket with Adnit Jhamb to take the USA to 69, but the team faltered again after this partnership broke. Nitish Sudini scored 36 runs in 52 balls with four fours, while Adnit added 18 runs for the team.
For India, Henil Patel took 5 wickets for 16 runs in 7 overs, while R. Ambris, Khilan Patel, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and Deepesh Devendran took 1 wicket each. In response, India suffered a major blow when Vaibhav Suryavanshi was dismissed for 12. Suryavanshi scored just 2 runs. India had scored 21 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in 4 overs. Rain stopped play. When the match resumed, Team India was set a target of 96 runs in 37 overs to win. The match resumed and India lost Vedant Trivedi (2) on the sixth ball of the fifth over. Two balls later, captain Ayush Mhatre also lost his wicket. Mhatre was dismissed for 19 runs in 19 balls with 4 fours.
India had lost three wickets for 25 runs in 5.2 overs. From there, Abhigyan Kundu, along with Vihaan Malhotra, put on 45 runs in 43 balls for the fourth wicket, bringing the team to the brink of victory. Vihaan added 18 runs. From there, Abhigyan Kundu, along with Kanishk Chauhan, led the team to victory in 17.2 overs. The two players shared an unbroken 29-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Abhigyan remained unbeaten on 42 runs in 41 balls, including one six and five fours, while Kanishk made 10. For the opposition, Ritwik Appidi took two wickets, while Rishabh Simpi and Utkarsh Srivastava took one wicket each.