Bulawayo, Zimbabwe – In a U-19 World Cup warm-up match, England U-19 defeated India U-19 by 20 runs via the DLS method after rain interrupted play at the Bulawayo Athletic Club on Monday. This was the second and final warm-up game for both teams before the mega event.
India won the toss and elected to bat first. However, England's bowlers made early inroads, with Sebastian Morgan removing Vaibhav Suryavanshi in the third over and Vedant Trivedi in the seventh, leaving India struggling at 40/2. Skipper Ayush Mhatre (49 off 40) and Vihaan Malhotra attempted to rebuild, but James Minto struck twice to further set back India's progress, reducing them to 74/4.
Ambrish Sukumar and Abhigyan Kundu then staged a resilient fightback, combining for a 97-run partnership over nearly 20 overs. Manny Lumsden eventually broke the partnership by dismissing Sukumar for 48. Kundu continued to anchor the innings, finding support from Harvansh Pangalia (36 runs) as they took India past 200. Kanishk Chouhan provided a late surge with a quickfire 45 off 36 balls. James Minto returned to dismiss both Abhigyan Kundu (82 off 99) and Mohamed Enaan, completing his five-wicket haul. India finished their innings with a total of 295/8. Minto ended with figures of 5/34, while Morgan took 2 wickets.
In response, England lost Ben Dawkins early, dismissed by Henil Patel in the second over. Joe Moores and Ben Mayers then combined for a 77-run partnership, before Khilan Patel removed Mayers for 37 and Moores for 46 to leave England at 104/3. Captain Thomas Rew (71) and Caleb Falconer (29) then took control, putting together an unbroken 92-run partnership. Rain arrived with England at 196/3 after 34.3 overs, comfortably ahead of the DLS revised target of 177. England won by 20 runs. Khilan Patel picked up 2 wickets for India.
The result highlights England's batting depth and composure, while suggesting India needs more contributions from their batting lineup and can't rely solely on Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Bowling remains a concern for India.
