India registered another convincing victory in the Under-19 cricket World Cup, beating hosts Bangladesh by 131 runs at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on Friday.

After amassing 309 for 7, the Indian colts bowled out the hosts for 178.

The victory gave India, unbeaten in three matches, the top spot in Group C and a place in the Super League stage of the tournament.

New Zealand, who finished runners-up, also progress to the Super League.

Bangladesh, who needed to win the match in order to stand any chance of progressing to the Super League, will  now compete in the Plate championship.

Electing to field, Bangladesh failed to take advantage of the early morning conditions and a damp pitch as the Indian openers went about their task on a cautious note. But Robin Uthappa and Shikhar Dhawan gradually blossomed and unleashed a flurry of strokes. Uthappa was the first to be dismissed for 59, leg before wicket to Nadif Chowdhury in the 25th over, after putting on 135 for the first wicket with Dhawan.

Dhawan played a steady innings as wickets started to tumble at the other end.

First captain Ambati Rayudu was run out after a mix up with Dhawan and big hitter Suresh Raina could not  contribute much after being bowled by Enamul Haque jnr for 2.

Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik did not last long as he played a quick little innings of 25 from 23 balls.

Hero of the previous match Sunny Singh scored just 9 as India tumbled to 220 for 5 after 41.3 overs.

The Bangladesh bowlers now started piling on the pressure, bowling some tight overs to restrict the Indian total. However, all-rounder Gaurav Dhiman came to the party with some big hits. He scored 32 in just 16 balls, with two fours and two sixes as Dhawan played the anchor role at the other end.

Dhawan completed his second century of the tournament, scoring 120 before being dismissed by Nazmul Hossain in the 49th over.

Dhawan picked his second man of the match award in the tournament for his batting heroics.

Abhishek Sharma and Vikram Singh then put on some quick runs at the end as India piled 309  runs.

Nadif Chowdhury was the most successful bowler, claiming 2 for 45 in his 10 overs.

Bangladesh, chasing a huge target, got off to a bad start as they lost both their openers early, in the sixth over, with the score 24.

Nafis Iqbal was the first to go, caught by Suresh Raina off Vikram Singh for 8, while the other opener, Mohammed Nazimuddin, was trapped lbw by Gaurav Dhiman for 6.

Aftab Ahmed then played a cameo off 44 runs off just 29 balls, with 9 boundaries, putting on 50 runs for the third wicket with Naeem Islam.

But once Aftab was dismissed by left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta, the Bangladeshi batting collapsed.

Gupta also picked the wicket of Islam for 22 as the Bangladesh score read 102 for 4.

They lost two more quick wickets that of Ashiqur Rahman (11) and Nadif Chowdhury (0) and the chances of the  hosts progressing to the Super League stage looked highly impossible with the score on 110 for 6.

Wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh provided some resistance, scoring 26 but he was out to leg-spinner Abhishek Sharma, caught by Rayudu.

Bangladesh Test player Enamul Haque jnr was the ninth wicket to fall, stumped by Dinesh Karthik off the bowling of Raina.

Nazmul Hossain was the final wicket to fall, caught by Karthik, to give Gupta his third wicket of the day.

Spinners Gupta and Sharma took three wickets each as Bangladesh fell short of the Indian target by a big margin of 178 runs.

Scorecard:

India Under-19:
R Uthappa lbw N Chowdhury                   59
S Dhawan b N Hossain                         120
A Rayudu run out (A Ahmed)                  10
S Raina b E Haq jnr                                   2
D Karthik c A Ahmed b N Chowdhury    25
S Singh c N Iqbal b N Islam                      9
G Dhiman c R Huq b N Islam                  32
A Sharma not out                                     23
V Singh not out                                        12

Extras: (b:4, lb:0, w:10, nb:3)             17

Total: (for 7 wickets in 50 overs)      309

Did not bat: P Gupta, RP Singh.

Fall of wickets: Uthappa 1-135, Rayudu 2-160, Raina 3-162, Karthik 4-201, S Singh 5-220, Dhiman 6-265, Dhawan 7-290.

Bowling: N Hossain 10-1-52-1, R Huq 6-0-45-0, S Hossain 8-0-69-0, Enamul Haque jnr 10-0-46-1, N Chowdhury 10-0-45-2, N Islam 6-0-47-2.

Bangladesh Under-19:
N Iqbal c Raina b V Singh                      8
M Nazimuddin lbw Dhiman                   6
N Islam c Raina b Gupta                       22
A Ahmed c Rayudu b Gupta                 44
A Rahman c Karthik b RP Singh          11
D Ghosh c Rayudu b Sharma                26
N Chowdhury c Gupta b Sharma           0
R Huq c Rayudu b Sharma                     6
N Hossain c Karthik b Gupta                18
E Haque jnr st Karthik b Raina              15
S Hossain not out                                   5

Extras:  (b: 4, w: 10, nb:3)                17

Total: (all out in 40.3 overs)              178

Fall of wickets: Iqbal, 1-20, Nazimuddin 2-24, Ahmed 3-74, Islam 4-102, Rahman 5-109, Chowdhury 6-110, Huq 7-126, Ghosh  8-139, E Haque jnr 9-160, N Hossain 10-178.

Bowling: V Singh 5-0-44-1, G Dhiman 4-0-20-1, RP Singh 7-1-22-1, P Gupta 6.3-1-21-3, A Sharma 9-0-39-3, S Singh 4-1-10-0, S Raina 5-0-20-1.