In a match full of twists and turns, defending champions India survived a major embarrassment to defeat Scotland by five wickets in their second Group A match of the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Dubai, on Monday.
After restricting Scotland to 88 — courtesy man-of-the-match Kuldeep Yadav’s 4/28, including a hat-trick — the Indians suffered a batting collapse losing five wickets for 22 runs. Sarfaraz Khan (45 not out) and Deepak Hooda (24 not out) scored 70 runs for the sixth wicket to ensure India’s victory with 165 balls remaining.
The match, of course, will be remembered for Yadav’s hattrick, the first Indian ever to do at this level. His feat was spread over two overs as Scotland crashed. Yadav, who bowls rare left-arm chinaman, combined with fellow off-spinner Aamir Gani (4/28) to wreck Scotland. India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by 40 runs in the opening clash. Monday’s win will almost surely give India a quarterfinal berth.
