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IND U19 won by 234 runs

5:45 PM IST and 4:15 PM Local Time : India U-19 have started their Asia cup campaign by completely obliterating the UAE U-19 by a gargantuan margin of 234 runs. The positive take away for UAE is that they showed some resistance to avoid getting bowled out. Vaibhav Suryavanshi's blitzkrieg has made a difference between the two teams.

UAE won the toss and sent India to bat first. They got the early success by removing the Indian skipper Ayush Mhatre for 4. But after that, it was complete dominance from Indian batters. Vaibhav Suryavanshi played his shots all around the park and Aaron George just anchored the innings. They added 212 runs together for the second wicket before Aaron George got out scoring 69.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi was the stand out batter. He tonked the spinners to every corner of the park and scored 171 from 95 balls hitting 9 boundaries and 14 maximums. After his dismissal, Vihaan Malhotra led the Indian batting. Vihaan got the assistance from Vedant Trivedi who scored a fine 38. Before getting dismissed, Vihaan scored 69 off 55 balls with 7 fours and a maximum. A couple of breezy cameos from Abhigyan Kundu (32) and Kanishk Chouhan (28 off 12) took India A to 433/6 at the end of their fifty overs.

For UAE, Yug Sharma and Uddish Suri took a couple of wickets each. Shalom D'Souza and Yayin Rai took a wicket each.

Coming to chase the steep target of 434, UAE looked good only in the first two overs. But after that, wickets kept tumbling and the batters were all at sea. Shalom D'Souza got out for 4 and Yayin Rai was looking good but fell to Henil Patel for 17. Aayan Misbah had a brief struggle and got out scoring 3 off 18 balls. Rayan Khan was the top scorer in the top four and scored 19. Losing Ahmed Khudadad and Noorullah Ayobi, UAE were reduced to 53/6.

Prithvi Madhu and Uddish Suri then focused on not losing wickets. They gave up on the idea of chasing the target and tried to bat the entire fifty overs. Together they batted for 144 balls to score 85 runs on the board before UAE skipper Madhu got out scoring 50 off 87 balls. Uddish Suri remained unbeaten on 78 off 106 balls and Saleh Amin scored an unbeaten 20 off 35. UAE U-19 finished with 199/7 from their 50 overs.

Deepesh Devendran took 2 wickets for the Indian side. Kishan Kumar Singh, Henil Patel, Khilan Patel and Vihaan Malhotra took a wicket each.

Time for the post-match presentations.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Player of the Match): "For me, it was all about preparation. We came a day early and had a really good practice session before the match, which helped a lot.

My plan was simple - try to bat as long as I could. Since the wicket was new, I spent the first ten balls just trying to read it properly, and once I understood the pace and bounce, I began to attack.

I’ve been working on my unorthodox shots in practice, and I even managed to play a few of them today. I want to keep expanding my range.

I come from Bihar, and honestly, that doesn’t matter much out there. You always hear things from behind the stumps, but I just focused on my own game.

I see everything, I hear everything, and sure, it makes me smile sometimes, but it doesn’t really affect me."

Yayin Rai (UAE U-19 Captain): "I think we didn't bowl according to our plans. I think we panicked too early. We dropped a few catches and the result was shown. 

We have worked very hard with the fielding over the past few years but obviously in the heat of the game and in the pressure moments, we don't want to drop the catches but it happened. I think we have a very talented batch. When we were 48/4, it was not easy but the batters built a good partnership. I think Yug was very economical in terms of his bowling in this high scoring game."

Ayush Mhatre (Indian U-19 Skipper): "Yeah, from start to finish, this really was India’s game. Very comfortable. Like we said earlier, the way Vaibhav batted was outstanding, and the wicket was really good too. We all know what happens if he bats for more than 20 overs - he takes the game away. But today he also showed great batsmanship, the way he started and then carried on. And it wasn’t just him.

We keep talking about Vaibhav, but George and Vihaan also contributed with the bat. Then Kanishk came in at the end with that brilliant cameo. This team looks solid in every part of the batting order. The boys are confident, and since we’ve been playing together for almost a year now, I have complete belief in them. Even Kundu batted really well, and we finished strongly.

As for the bowling, we do have a strong pace attack and a lot of quality spinners. We tried nine changes today, and the thinking was simple. After posting 430, I wanted to test a few bowlers. In crucial moments, if a main bowler isn’t hitting the right lengths, I need another option who can step in. That’s why I wanted to give the newer bowlers a chance.

At one stage, the UAE were 53 for 6, and then over the next 36 overs, they lost only one wicket and scored steadily. Honestly, it doesn’t matter too much to me. Their batters played well, stayed calm because they didn’t have scoreboard pressure, and simply focused on batting the full 50 overs.

For me, it was a good opportunity to try more bowlers, and it helps both me and the team going forward. The boys really put in a complete performance today."

That marks the end of our live coverage from the first game of this year's U-19 Asia Cup between India U-19 and UAE U-19. The Indian team has obliterated the UAE side and earned a massive victory by 234 runs.

For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Dev Rajawat and the scorer/analyst of this match Rajesh Pal.