India U19 finished as the Group B champions after thrashing New Zealand U19 in their third and last game of the group stage in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2026 on Saturday (January 24).

After the Indian team sent the New Zealand batting first in the delayed start that forced the match shortened to 47 overs for each side, the Blackcaps colts faced an early batting collapse. When New Zealand were struggling at 17/3 in 7.1 overs, rain once again interrupted the game. It was later reduced to a 37-over game for each side, as New Zealand were bowled out for only 135 runs in 36.2 overs. In reply, India U19 chased down the revised 130-run target in just 13.3 overs after losing three wickets, as they won by seven wickets with 141 balls remaining (DLS method).

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Indian pacers dominated in first innings

New Zealand were once struggling at 22/5 before some lower-order fighting helped them to manage a three-figure total. No.8 batter Callum Samson scored the highest runs for his team, 37 not out off 48 balls with one four, while the no.6 batter Jacob Cotter (23) and the no.9 batter Selwin Sanjay (28) were the other batters to manage the 20-run mark. Only two more Blackcaps colts managed the 10-run mark.  

Indian pacers RS Ambrish and Henil Patel were stars with the ball, where Ambrish had the bowling figures of 8-1-29-4, and Henil had the bowling figures of 7.2-1-23-3. They shared the first four wickets, where Ambrish picked up three wickets.

Powerful Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre made chase very easy

In chase, although the opener Aaron George (7) was dismissed cheaply, another opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and the skipper Ayush Mhatre controlled the game with their powerful batting performances. While Vaibhav scored 40 off 23 balls with two fours and three sixes, Ayush scored 53 off 27 balls with two fours and six sixes.