Pacer Maruf Mridha's five-wicket haul went in vain as Bangladesh suffered a 84-run defeat against India in their Under-19 Cricket World Cup opener in Bloemfontein Saturday.
Mridha, who returned figure of 5/43, jolted India early in their innings but the mighty sub-continent rivals recovered from the shaky start to post a challenging 251/7.
Bangladesh in reply, struggled right from the outset and were eventually bowled out for 167 in 45.5 overs.
Opener Adrash Singh and captain Uday Saharan led India's recovery with a 116-run partnership after Mridha reduced them to 31/2, claiming the wicket of Arshin Kulkarni and Musheer Khan.
Adarsh was the top-scorer for the Indians with 76 off 96, an inning laced with six fours.
Saharan made 64 off 94, sending the ball across the rope four times.
Sachin Das then helped the side go past 250-mark with an unbeaten 20-ball 26, hitting two fours and one six.
Priyanshu Moliya and Aravelly Avinash scored 23 each.
Saumy Pandey claimed 4/24 to wreck havoc on Bangladesh while Musheer complemented him with 2/35.
The youngsters in red and green slumped to 41/3 in the 10th over, after failing to deal with Pandey properly.
But the young Tigers appeared to be on course with Ariful Islam and Shihab James playing confidently.
Musheer broke through with the wicket of Ariful (41) after he added 77 with James for the fifth wicket.
Musheer also bagged the wicket of James who made team-high 54 off 77 with seven boundaries.
Pandey then came back to clean up the tail as 2020 winners Bangladesh started the campaign with a defeat.
Bangladesh will take on Ireland Monday in their second match of the group.
3RD MATCH
India U-19 251/7 (Adarsh 76, Mridha 5/43) beat Bangladesh U-19 167 in 45.5 overs (James 54, Pandey 4/24) by 84 runs
