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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Under-19 cricket team needed something magical to keep their hopes alive at the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup but there was no fairy tale script for Stephen Mangongo and his youth brigade who were handed a 10-wicket thrashing by giants India in a Group B decider in Christchurch, New Zealand, yesterday.

The loss meant the Zimbabweans had succumbed to their second successive big loss in as many days following the seven wicket rout by Australia their second Group B match on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe had begun their campaign on a promising note when they hammered Associate nation Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets last Saturday.

But they could not maintain the momentum in the next two matches against the heavyweights, who apparently share six Under-19 World Cup titles between them.

With the defeat, Zimbabwe will not take part in the elite Super League reserved for the top eight teams from the four groups at the tournament.

Mangongo, however, remained proud of his charges despite being no match for the big two, choosing, instead, to set his sights beyond the youth World Cup.

“I wouldn’t call it a bad day in the office but I would say it was a frustrating day. India is the Mecca of cricket… it is the home of cricket we all know that.

“They are the best in the business there is no two ways about that. When we batted Wesley (Madhevere) looked class. They have got the quickest bowlers who could rush even our national team players.

“I’m very hopeful that these boys will continue to get better. So basically it was just a frustrating day indeed. Otherwise in the bigger picture of things the boys gave a good account of themselves against a world class team.

“To see Nkosi (Nunu), who is only 16 years old, clocking 130km per hour to me in a year’s time this kid will easily clock 140. We must not lose sight of the bigger picture.

“We are frustrated we did not pull it up, frustrated because we looked good in patches especially those three batters that did not convert.

“But the future is definitely bright because we looked competitive. We did not disgrace ourselves by any stretch of imagination.

“Yes well done to India they smashed us by 10 wickets but in deep analysis, the three batmen Liam Roche, Wesley Madhevere and Milton Shumba looked a class act.

“That’s how we grow, that’s how we get better. When we picked a young side to the World Cup we were very mindful of all these things and the long term objective we don’t lose sight of it. We are in the right track and these kids are available for the next World Cup and I am sure they will shake the world,” said Mangongo.

Zimbabwe were sent in to bat first and were bowled out for 154 runs. They lost opener Gregory Dollar early and were 7/1 after only two overs.

But they looked in good position having recovered to 110/3 thanks to some promising knocks from Madhevere (30) and Shumba (36). Skipper Roche also weighed in with 31 runs but Zimbabwe paid for the failure by the batsmen to convert the good starts into big scores as India’s bowlers turned the screws on.