Visakhapatnam, Sep 27: India kickstarted their under-19 quadrangular series campaign in style by cruising to a ten-wicket win against Australia; the tournament also features Sri Lanka and West Indies. Leading India’s charge was young all-rounder B Aparajith who took five for 38 to bowl Australia out for a paltry 163 runs.

Winning the toss and opting to bat first, the Australia under-19 side appeared to be heading for a decent score having lost four wickets for 105. But then off-break bowler Aparajith landed his first victim of the game, Ashton Turner (5), triggering off Australia’s collapse. Aparajith took four of the last five wickets with wicketkeeper batsman JJ Peirson putting up a lone fight with an innings of 51.

In reply, the India under-19 side chased down the victory target with minimal fuss. Openers Manan Vohra and captain Unmukt Chand struck feisty half-centuries to overhaul Australia’s score in just under 13 overs bringing about an early end to the 50-overs-a-side contest.

India now take on the Sri Lanka under-19 side on September 29 at Visakhapatnam. The Sri Lanka side, meanwhile, won their opening encounter against the West Indies by two wickets in what was a low-scoring game.

Brief scores: India U-19 167/0 in 12.0 overs (Manan Vohra 79*, Unmukt Chand 72) beat Australia U-19 163 all out in 41.1 overs (Jimmy Peirson 51, B Aparajith 5/38) by ten wickets