Online Reporter
Brandon Moyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE’S campaign in the 2026ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup got off to a bad start after their opening match against Scotland was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The match, at Takashinga Cricket Club in Harare, was called off due to a wet outfield at the Highfield-based facility.
Despite numerous inspections, it was not to be for the players and the cricket faithful as match officials deemed the conditions unfit to play on. The game was eventually called off.
With Zimbabwe left frustrated by the conditions in the capital, one of the pre-tournament favourites, India got their campaign off to a good start with a six-wicket (D/L Method) win over the United States of America (USA) at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday.
India won the toss and elected to field first, bowling out their opponents for 107 runs in 35.2 overs courtesy of a Henil Patel five wicket haul. Chasing a revised target of 96 runs in 37 overs, India finished on 99/4 in 17.2 overs to collect maximum points.
The Indian side had a brilliant start with the ball as Patel struck first in the second over and wickets continued to fall regularly.
Patel, who finished with figures of 5/16 in his seven over-spell first had Amrinder Gill caught for one run off seven balls before going on to bowl out the American skipper, Utkarsh Srivastava for a five-ball duck. His third victim was Arjun Mahesh whom he caught for 16 runs after facing 29 balls.
From there, Patel had Sabrish Prasad caught for seven runs off 17 deliveries before going on to complete his five wicket haul by bowling out Rishabh Shimpi for a golden duck.
The pacer had support from Deepesh Devendran, RS Ambrish, Khilan Patel and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who all picked up one wicket each.
Nitish Sudini top scored for USA with 36 runs off 52 deliveries.
The chase was no walk in the park for India with the USA bowlers coming out fighting.
India lost their first wicket in the third over when Ritvik Appidi bowled Sooryavanshi for two runs off four balls with India now on 12/1.
After the rain delay, Appidi struck again, dismissing Vedant Trivedi for two runs, leaving India on 21/2 at the end of the fifth over. USA struck again in the sixth over, giving india as a scare as Shimpi had Ayush Mhatre caught for 19 runs off as many deliveries.
There was then a 45 runs fourth wicket partnership between Vihaan Malhotra and Abhigyan Kundu which swung the game back into India’s favour. The partnership was broken by Srivastava who had Malhotra caught for 18 runs off 17 balls.
It was Kundu and Kanishk Chouhan who saw the game through for India. Kundu, who finished unbeaten on 42 runs off 41 balls sealed the game off with a massive six when India needed three runs to win. Chouhan finished on 10 runs not out from 14 balls.
Appidi was the pick of the USA bowlers with figures of 2/24 in five overs.
In Namibia, the West Indies beat Tanzania by five wickets.
The tournament continues with three games taking place today.
England will be up against Pakistan at Takashinga Cricket Club. Defending champions Australia will face Ireland in Namibia with Afghanistan going up against South Africa also in Namibia.
