Unbeaten India take on struggling USA in U-19 World Cup

Bloemfontein: Having already sealed a super six berth, record five-time champions India will be expected to breeze past USA in their final group game of the U-19 World Cup here on Sunday.

India beat Bangladesh and Ireland in their first two games and will top the group if they win against a struggling USA, a squad full of Indian Americans. The American outfit come into the game after losing both their games to Ireland and Bangladesh.

While Bangladesh did put the Indian batters under a bit of pressure, the Uday Saharan- led side hardly put a foot wrong against the Irishmen.

The top three teams from group A and B, and, from C and D, qualify for the super six.

Left-arm pacer Naman Tiwari has been impressive upfront, while left-arm spinner Saumy Pandey has got the ball to turn and has been the pick of the bowlers with seven wickets in two games.

Number three Musheer Khan showed a lot of promise with a hundred against Ireland, and like his elder brother Sarfaraz, would be looking to pile on the runs.

Opener Arshin Kulkarni would want to get a big score under his belt going into the next stage, having made 7 and 32 in the earlier games.

Skipper Saharan has led from the front with back-to-back fifties and would want to cash in against a weaker team like the USA.

Sachin Dhas has played the role of a finisher well by getting the big hits towards the end of the innings.

It will be India's third consecutive game at Mangaung Oval.

USA will have to punch above their weight to trouble the Indians. Their batting let them down in the first two games and were all out for 105 against Ireland.

Squads:

India: Arshin Kulkarni, Adarsh Singh, Rudra Mayur Patel, Sachin Dhas, Priyanshu Moliya,

Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (c), Aravelly Avanish Rao, Saumy Kumar Pandey, Murugan Abhishek, Innesh Mahajan, Dhanush Gowda, Aaradhya Shukla, Raj Limbani and Naman Tiwari

USA: Amogh Arepally, Rayaan Bhagani, Aaryan Batra, Khush Bhalala, Prannav Chettipalayam, Arya Garg, Siddarth Kappa, Bhavya Mehta, Aarin Nadkarni, Manav Nayak, Parth Patel, Rishi Ramesh (c), Utkarsh Srivastava, Ateendra Subramanian, Aryaman Suri. Reserves: Arjun Mahesh, Ansh Rai, Aryan Satheesh.