Day 4 at U19 CWC 2012 Author: Maaz; Views: 287; Date: 14-08-2012, 06:37;

Day 4 at the U19 CWC saw India register their first win of the tournament over the Zimbabweans at the Tony Ireland Stadium during the live fixture. Unmukt Chand and Chopra looked in invincible touch with a significant 1^st wicket stand of over 120 before the short ball did Chopra’s undoing just like in the previous televised match vs. the West Indies. Chand was compact in his defensive play and stylish in his offensive play. One can tell why he is rated so highly by the Indian fan base and why he has so impressive numbers at this level as a consistently performing run machine.

The Indian batsmen all struggled against attacking the short pitched deliveries and it brought their downfall regularly. They also seemed to lack batting depth and are heavily reliant on Chand to deliver the goods at the top. For example today they were placed at 150/2 after the 30 over mark and ended up on 261/6 in their 50 and that too was helped with some special hitting in the final over.  They slowed down and never really accelerated despite having wickets in hand to unleash at the back end of the innings.

South Africa overcomes Namibia comfortably in the easiest fixture they will get during the tournament. De Kock was once against amongst the runs, scoring a century at a blistering pace. New Zealand narrowly beat the Afghanistan side in Group ‘B’. In group ‘A’ Australia marched to the top of the group with their 3^rd out of 3 wins in the tournament against Ireland with a 7 wicket win. Captain Bosisto is yet to be dismissed in the tournament in all 3 of his innings. He is a clinical finisher and wise head. Australia will play their quarter final on Sunday against the runner up of Group ‘D’. Meanwhile Irish captain George Dockrell had phenomenal figures of 10-6-10-1 during that encounter.

England will play Nepal in the final televised group fixture on the 16^th.

Yet again the side who won the toss during the televised game inserted their opponents into batting. Perhaps this is because of the early start, moisture and nature of the wicket. It has been an effective ploy for the full member teams who won by 6 and 4 wickets respectively during the first two televised games. The lesser sides have not got carted around the park either in the 3^rd and 4^th game.