Fifteen-year-old Mumbai off-spinner Sarfaraz Khan picked four wickets as India Under-19 easily beat their Sri Lankan counterparts by seven wickets to win the 'Youth ODI' series 2-0 in Dambulla on Thursday.
The first match of the series was washed out.
Chasing a paltry target of 138, India colts knocked off the required runs with 103 balls to spare.
Almost all the batsmen made contributions, young Jammu lad Shubham Khajuria top-scoring with 34, while vice-captain Sanju Samson contributed 31.
Earlier, Sarfaraz took four for 27 in 7.1 overs and was ably complemented by UP's chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who chipped in with figures of three for 16, after skipper Vijay Zol won the toss.
Sarfaraz, the youngest member of the Under-19 side got three wickets during the middle overs to break the backbone of Sri Lanka’s batting. He first removed Sanjika Ridma (23), and followed it up with the wickets of Thilaksha Sumansiri (2) and R Anurudda (2), as the Islanders slumped from 110 for 3 to 120 for 6, and never recovered.
Only Priyamal Perera (50, 80 balls, 3x4, 1x6) and opener Minod Bhanuka (42, 53 balls, 7x4) made significant scores as seven other batsmen couldn't even cross five before heading back to pavilion.
After Sarfaraz ran through middle-order, Kuldeep came back for his second spell to polish off the tail.
The chase was hardly a problem for the Indians as young Khajuria curbed his natural strokeplay to hit a patient 34 off 65 balls, inclusive of five boundaries.
His opening partner Akhil Herwadkar (25, 4x4) did the bulk of the scoring during their 39-run opening stand.
Skipper Zol (23), who had an outstanding series, did not score too many runs but it was Samson, who hit two fours and a couple of sixes in his 37-ball knock to finish off the match in style.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka U-19: 137 all out in 37.1 overs (Priyamal Perera 50, Minod Bhanuka 42, Sarfaraz Khan 4-27, Kuldeep Yadav 3-16).
India U-19: 141-3 in 32.5 overs (Shubham Khajuria 34, Sanju Samson 31 not out, Vijay Zol 23).
India Under-19 won by seven wickets.
India won three-match series 2-0.
