ICC U19 WC Warmup | Kartik Tyagi stars with hat-trick as India thrash Afghanistan

Winning the toss and batting first, India got off to the worst start imaginable, losing opener Divyansh Saxena to a first-ball duck in the very first over of the match. However, it turned out to be nothing but a minor blip, as Yashashvi Jaiswal (69) and Tilak Varma (55) piled misery on the Afghanistan bowlers, scoring half-centuries before eventually retiring after being satisfied with the time they got in the middle. After the duo's retirement, skipper Priyam Garg (36), Dhruv Jurel (21), Atharva Ankolekar (18) and Shubang Hegde (25) all got off to starts but failed to capitalize as the Indian U19 team eventually ended up with a first-innings total of 255/6. Left-armer Abid Mohammadi was the pick of the bowlers from Afghanistan, ending with figures of 3-0-19-3. 

In response, Afghanistan's chase was all but over in just three deliveries, as young speedster Kartik Tyagi emulated Irfan Pathan's heroics from 2006 to claim a hat-trick in the first three deliveries of the innings. From there, it was all one-way traffic as just one Afghanistan batsman, Mohammad Ishaq (11), managed to scramble to double figures. Eventually, the Indian bowlers steamrolled over the Afghan batters, as the chasing side was dismissed for just 44, handing the Priyam Garg-led Indian side a thumping 211-run win. Apart from Tyagi, all the Indian bowlers had a field day at the office, with Akash Singh, Sushant Mishra and Shubang Hegde all finishing with two scalps each to their name.