India beats New Zealand on opening day of ICC U-19

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 11 (UNI) India began their campaign for the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup on a bright note, beating a spirited New Zealand by six runs on the opening day of the warm-up matches here today.

Batting first, India scored 281 for the loss of nine wickets with Shreevats Goswami hitting a flawless 91 from 101 balls with seven fours and two sixes, and Ravindra Jadeja slamming a quick-fire 71 with five boundaries and two sixes.

Captain Virat Kohli (36) and Taruwar Kohli (34) were the other notable run-getters as Nicholas Beard and Tim Soothee shared six wickets between them.

New Zealand made a spirited run-chase after collapsing to 57 for three but fell just six shorts and ended on 275-8. Opener George Worker and Corey Anderson featured in a 115-run fourth wicket partnership while Fraser Colson and Anurag Verma added 66 runs for the ninth wicket.

Worker scored 69 from 111 balls with five fours, Corey Anderson slapped three sixes and three boundaries from 84 balls, Colson chipped in with 36 not out and Verma contributed 29 not out.

For India, fast bowler Pradeep Sanghwan bowled with a lot of fire and venom to return figures of four for 52 while Einstein Napolean bowled intelligently for his two for 41.

Meanwhile, England surprised two-time defending champion Pakistan by six wickets while Bangladesh recorded a comfortable 165-run victory against host Malaysia with opener Mohammad Mithun scoring 81 and Ireland recovered from a precarious 126 for six while chasing 180 to beat Papua New Guinea by two wickets with James Hall hitting an undefeated 70.

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