Indian under-19 squad suffer setbacks before World Cup

The Indian under-19 team lost two practice games against youth teams fielded by New South Wales in Sydney and are to play one more practice match against the Bradman Museum XI on Friday before leaving for Auckland to participate in the under-19 World Cup.

The first match saw the Indians take on the New South Wales under-19 side in a match that the visitors lost by seven wickets. Chandan Madan, Stuart Binny, Deepak Chougule and Paul Valthaty were dismissed for cameo knocks in the twenties and thirties.

The Indian batting failures saw New South Wales chase a moderate target of 194 in under 45 overs, losing just three wickets in the process.

In the second game, the Indians bowled first and restricted the New South Wales Colts to 233/7 in their 50 overs. Siddharth Trivedi took three wickets, while Irfan Pathan took two.

In the chase, the Indians faltered, with only skipper Parthiv Patel's 42 and vice-captain Y Gnaneswara Rao's 62 lending substance to the total. The pair put on 78 runs for the third wicket. The Indians were bowled out for 167 after being 150/5 in the 32nd over, losing the match by 66 runs.