India rout West Indies, Bangladesh stuns England

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 22 (UNI) Riding on skipper Virat Kohli's superb century India overpowered West Indies by 50 runs to set up a quarter-final clash with England in the U/19 Cricket World Cup here today.

Apart from Kohli's 74-ball 100, Tanmay Srivastava chipped in with 51, Taruwar Kohli contributed 50 and Saurabh Tiwary hit useful 38 to enable India post a challenging total of 265 for 5 in 50 overs.

In reply, the West Indies put in a spirited run chase, the Indian bowlers, Siddharth Kaul ( 3-37) and Ravinder Jadeja (2-28) strangled the middle-order and ultimately Larry Gomes' team fell short by 50 runs.

A spectacular England collapse handed victory to Bangladesh in the final round of matches in the group stage setting up a daunting quarter-final clash for Alex Wakely's team with India on Sunday.

Winning the toss and electing to field first, England reduced Bangladesh to 49-7 and eventually 149 all out as James Harris bowled beautifully for his 5-20. A fine partnership between Sohrawardi Shuvo (56 not out) and Dollar Mahmud (36) saved the blushes of Bangladesh and gave it a glimmer of hope.

But despite that late rally, England would still have been confident of knocking off the runs and it started confidently enough, putting on 35 for the first wicket. But after that, wickets fell at regular intervals with an out-of-touch England middle-order unable to establish themselves at the crease.

Even at 113-4, though, England should have been able to get home but as the wickets fell, panic set in and England ended up 13 runs short.

Elsewhere, Pakistan made sure that it qualified for the last eight as Group A winner with an 87-run victory over Zimbabwe .

However, it wasn't all plain sailing for Iman Wasim's side as it stumbled to 90-6 having won the toss and electing to bat first.

But a fine knock of 76 not out from wicketkeeper Ali Asad managed to bring the defending champion to a respectable, but far from dominant, total of 174 all out and some good bowling by Pakistan ensured Zimbabwe were unable to cause an upset.

The Africans were eventually all out for 86 with Muhammad Rameez (3-26) and Ahmad Shahzad (2-9) the pick of the Pakistan bowlers. The reigning champion, which is seeking its third title in a row, will now face Australia in the quarter-finals on Monday.

Sri Lanka beat Australia in the deciding match of Group C.

Batting first, the Aussies struggled to string together decent partnerships as Sri Lanka mixed up the bowling well, using no fewer than eight bowlers along the way. In the end, Australia limped to 173 all out in the 50th over with Navin Kavikara taking 3-20.

In reply, it did not go all Sri Lanka's way as it slipped to 63-3 but solid knocks, all of 43 interestingly enough, from Dilshan Munaweera, Kusal Perera and Ashan Subasinghe made sure that Sri Lanka got over the line comfortably with five wickets and 12.3 overs to spare.

In other quarter finals, Bangladesh will face South Africa on Sunday, Sri Lanka v New Zealand and Pakistan v Australia on Monday.

With the top eight playing in Kuala Lumpur, the bottom two teams from each group, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, West Indies, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Namibia, Bermuda and Ireland, will play their Plate Championship matches in Johor.

Scores in brief: India beat the West Indies by 50 runs: India 265-5, 50 overs (Virat Kohli 100, Tanmay Srivastava 51, Taruwar Kohli 50, Saurabh Tiwary 38; Dawnley Grant 2-56) West Indies 215 all out, 47.5 overs (Darren Bravo 43, Devon Thomas 32; Siddharth Kaul 3-37, Ravindra Jadeja 2-28) Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 87 runs: Pakistan 174-7, 50 overs (Ali Asad 57; Kyle Jarvis 3-40, Prince Masvaure 2-53) Zimbabwe 86 all out, 29 overs (Muhammad Rameez 3-26, Ahmad Shahzad 2-9) Sri Lanka beat Australia by five wickets: Australia 173 all out, 49.4 overs (Steven Smith 36, Michael Hill 34; Navin Kavikara 3-20) Sri Lanka 175-5, 37.3 overs (Dilshan Munaweera 43, Kusal Perera 43, Ashan Subasinghe 43; Clive Rose 2-23) Bangladesh beat England by 13 runs: Bangladesh 149 all out, 42 overs (Sohrawardi Shuvo 56, Dollar Mahmud 36; James Harris 5-29) England 136 all out, 47.4 overs (Nasir Hossain 2-16, Mahmudul Hasan 2-20).

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