Kartik Tyagi's heroics handed India a massive 74-run victory over Australia in the ongoing ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup here on Tuesday.
With this victory, India secured their semi-final spot in the tournament.
Chasing a target of 234 runs, Australia witnessed a very poor start as they gave away three wickets in the very first over of innings. Jake Fraser-McGurk was run out on the first ball while Mackenzie Harvey and Lachlan Hearne were dismissed by Tyagi.
In the third over, Tyagi again took a wicket, this time he sent Oliver Davies back to the pavilion. Sam Fanning was then joined by Patrick Rowe on the field and both played slow-paced innings. After the completion of 20 over, Australia were on 68/4.
In the next over, Tyagi dismissed Rowe, who scored 21 runs off 77 balls. Liam Scott then came out to bat and provided Australia with some momentum along with Fanning, who completed his half-century.
Akash Singh handed India with the much-needed wicket of Fanning, who played a knock of 75 runs. After Fanning's dismissal, Australia crumbled and were all out on 159 runs. Tyagi picked up four wickets while Akash Singh took three wickets in the match to throttle Australia's batting line-up.
Earlier, after being asked to bat first, India got off to a good start as openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena, played cautiously. Australia's Corey Kelly provided his side with the first breakthrough as he got hold of Saxena (14).
Tilak Varma was the next batsman but failed to leave a mark as he gave away an easy catch to Mackenzie Harvey off Todd Murphy's delivery in the 13th over. Priyam Garg then came out to bat but only scored five runs before Connor Sully bowled him.
Garg's dismissal brought Dhruv Jurel out on the field. Jurel along with Jaiswal provided India with some momentum. Jaiswal played brilliantly and went on to score his half-century.
However, soon after scoring his half-century, Jaiswal (62) was sent back to the pavilion by Tanveer Sangha. India struggled a lot after Jaiswal's wicket but Atharva Ankolekar inning helped India get back on track.
Ankolekar played a stunning inning and although India kept losing wickets, he fought with courage against the Australian bowling attack. He played an unbeaten knock of 55 runs off 54 balls to help India reach a total of 233 runs.
( With inputs from ANI )
