Mohamed Amaan in action© X (formerly Twitter)
Mohamed Amaan led from the front with an unbeaten century, while KP Karthikeya and opener Ayush Mhatre made fifties to hand India a comfortable 211-run victory over minnows Japan in the Under-19 Asia Cup on Monday. Amaan slammed an unbeaten 122 off just 118 balls, a knock studded with only seven boundaries, after India were invited to bat. Besides Amaan, Karthikeya made 57 off 49 balls with the help of five fours and one six, while Mhatre’s fiery 29-ball 54-run knock featured six boundaries and four hits over the fence. C Andre Siddarth (38), Hardik Raj (25 not out), and Vaibhav Suryavanshi (23) also played useful knocks to help India post a mammoth 339 for 6 in their 50 overs.
Hugo Kelly (2/42) and Kiefer Yamamoto-Lake (2/84) took two wickets each for Japan.
It was an easy outing for the Indians, as they restricted Japan to 128 for 8, securing their first win in Group A.
However, the Indians will be a little disappointed, as they failed to bowl out Japan.
After picking up two wickets earlier in the day, Kelly returned as Japan’s top-scorer with a gritty 50 off 111 balls. Charles Hinze remained unbeaten on 35.
For India, Karthikeya (2/21), Hardik Raj (2/9), and Chetan Sharma (2/14) shared six wickets between them.
India had lost to arch-rivals Pakistan by 43 runs in their tournament opener.
India will play United Arab Emirates in their final group game on Wednesday.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals, scheduled for December 6, with the final slated for December 8.
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