4.30 pm: A tough day in the field for Japan but it finishes with this lovely moment where the players from both teams get together for a photograph in the end. That will be all from us. Do stay tuned for reports and what not. India, top of the group comfortably, play New Zealand next on Friday.

4.21 pm: Priyam Garg happy with performance. Says he wants his pacers to get their early line and length better to do improve in the next match. Not thinking about the favourites tag, just want to do well in every match. Earlier, Marcus Thurgate said it was an experience in itself to play against the best team in the world and his Japan side will take positives and learn from the mistakes.

Player of the match: Ravi Bishnoi for his four-wicket haul. All four of his wickets came without a run conceded by him today. Says he is proud to win the first man of the match for the country and hopes to continue executing the plans well in the coming matches.

INDIA WIN BY 10 WICKETS WITH 45.1 OVERS TO SPARE! Kushagra’s turn to hit a four as he puts away a short ball from captain’s brother Ashley Thurgate’s first ball. He then finishes off the chase with a couple of classy drives into the gaps.

The captain’s brother Ashley Thurgate comes on to bowl...

After 4 overs, India 35/0 (Jaiswal 29, Kushagra 6)

FOURs! Oh, that’s classy from Yashasvi. Waited for the ball to get to him and plays a lovely straight drive. Next ball, stays in the crease and plays a cut past point. He has raced to 29 off 17 balls. India need just 7 more to win.

After 3 overs, India 25/0 (Jaiswal 20, Kushagra 5)

FOUR, SIX, FOUR! Yashasvi Jaiswal wants to finish this off in a hurry. A pull over midwicket followed by the first six of the match down the ground. A mishit over mid-on for four next. He will keep strike after a single off the last ball. That six really was sweetly timed by the southpaw.

After 2 overs, India 10/0 (Jaiswal 5, Kushagra 5)

A boundary for the right-handed Kushagra in the second over. HE has replaced Saxena in the side. Good over otherwise from medium-pacer Ota-Dobell.

After 1 over, India 4/0 (Jaiswal 4, Kushagra 0)

Jaiswal helps himself to a bounday in the first over, hitting a full toss to midwicket for four.

Off-spinner Retharekar will start off for Japan...

3.46 pm: The chase should start soon and India will want to finish this off ASAP with the threat of rain. For Japan, a few wickets will do their confidence a world of good.

3.35 pm: Join us shortly for India’s run-chase.

3.29 pm: An impressive bowling performance by India, as one would have expected. No Japan batsman crossed 7 but there were 19 extras, something the boys in blue will want to correct.

India’s bowling card: 

Kartik Tyagi: 3/10 in 6 overs (9 wides)

Akash Singh: 2/11 in 4.5 overs

Ravi Bishnoi: 4/5 in 8 overs

Vidyadhar Patil: 1/8 in 4 overs

22.5: WICKET! Japan all out for 41 in 22.5 overs! Akash Singh slows down the pace again and Ota-Dobell’s resistance is over. Veer takes another catch. Joint-second lowest score in U19 World Cups, joint-third overall.

After 22 overs, Japan 39/9 (Ota-Dobell 6, Ichki 0)

Ota-Dobell has now faced 36 deliveries. Good application being shown by him. Bishnoi bowls another tidy over.

20.5: WICKET! Akash Singh comes back into the attack and gets his first wicket. A clever change of pace (75 mph) and Retharekar chips it to Veer at mid-on. JPN 38/9.

After 20 overs, Japan 36/8 (Ota-Dobell 4, Retharekar 0)

Another maiden over from Bishnoi but a couple of deliveries, he tried a weird run-up from around the wicket. Running in like a left-arm spinner and then changing his direction at the last moment. Mbangwa not impressed on air.

After 19 overs, Japan 36/8 (Ota-Dobell 4, Retharekar 0)

Tyagi clearly has an issue with his radar. Just too many wides. Has conceded 10 runs in 6 overs, nine of those wides. Two more in that over.

After 18 overs, Japan 33/8 (Ota-Dobell 4, Retharekar 0)

Extras, the leading contributor for Japan’s score at the moment. Bishnoi, meanwhile, has seen the runs conceded catch up with his wickets column. 4/4 after 6 overs.

16.3: WICKET!!! Tyagi gets his third. Max Clements resistance comes to an end and it is once again a full, straight ball that gives Tyagi the wicket. This was actually a full toss at 84mph and Clements missed it. JPN 32/8.

Kartik Tyagi comes back for a second spell and starts off with yet another wide.

After 16 overs, Japan 31/7 (Ota-Dobell 3, Clements 5)

Another steady over from Bishnoi but the Japan batsmen are now reading him well. Playing late and playing on the back foot.

After 15 overs, Japan 29/7 (Ota-Dobell 2, Clements 5)

Oh, Clements is really impressing in this little innings. A lovely square drive off Patil for four despite a desperate dive from Bishnoi. Rohan Gavaskar says with experience Bishnoi will know when to put that dive in and when not to.

Back from a drinks break, Patil continues...

After 14 overs, Japan 23/7 (Ota-Dobell 2, Clements 1)

Good steady over by Patil followed by another tight over by Bishnoi. A wild swing from Ota-Dobell gets the outside edge but evades the slip fielder. Clements once again shows good technique to get behind the ball from Bishnoi. Good to see some application from the lower-order batsman, valuing his wicket.

ANALYSIS: Tom Moody, on coach’s corner, analysing Tyagi’s action whenever he goes wide of the bowling crease and that is when his line has been erratic. The wrist breaks when he corrects his line like that, reckons the former Aussie allrounder. Wants Tyagi to be releasing the ball consistently from closer to the umpire.

After 11 overs, Japan 22/7 (Ota-Dobell 2, Clements 0)

Garg gives a mini lecture to Bishnoi for overdoing the googly, presumably. Well negotiated by Clements, that over.

BREAKING: Ravi Bishnoi finally concedes a run!!! And it’s a wide. A googly gone wrong.

10.2: WICKET!! Oh dear, this is getting a bit ugly. A rash shot from Sahoo, who was the last top order batsman remaining. Patil has the wicket, Garg with a good catch at cover, running backwards. Jpn 21/7.

After 10 overs, Japan 19/6 (Sahoo 0, Dobell 0)

Ravi Bishnoi’s last 14 balls in the tournament: W W W W 0 0 0 0 0 0 W 0 W 0. HE has figures of 2-2-0-4 at the moment.

9.5: WICKET!!! Ravi Bishnoi has four wickets without conceding a run! Thurgate is out caught in the slips. Another googly. This is tough on Japan but some high quality spin bowling on display.

9.3: WICKET! Ravi Bishnoi has his third. Sets up Fartyal with a couple of away going deliveries and lands the googly right next ball. Classic set up. Japan are reeling at 19/5.

After 9 overs, Japan 19/4 (Sahoo 0, Fartyal)

First look of Vidyadhar Patil in this tournament and it is just good old medium pace bowling. Reminds this blogger of Vijay Shankar’s bowling at first glance. The wide count goes up again after four leg byes to start the over off. Meanwhile, Tyagi is back on the pitch.

After 8 overs, Japan 14/4 (Sahoo 0, Fartyal)

Unlike Tyagi earlier, Bishnoi almost gets is right with his hattrick ball and the appeal for LBW is turned down. What an over by the leg-spinner. Patil is the new bowler now.

7.2: WICKET! MAKE IT TWO IN TWO! And actually four in four. Another googly, another bowled dismissal. Takahashi is out first ball.

7.1: WICKET! Ravi Bishnoi finished his spell against Sri Lanka with two in two and now he has struck off his first ball. A hat-trick kinda, sorta! Noguchi is bowled by a googly.

After 7 overs, Japan 14/2 (Noguchi 7, Sahoo 0)

A couple of chances created by Tyagi. A short-ball induces a top edge from Noguchi but it falls in no-man’s land. Then a lovely inswinger to Sahoo that just misses the offstump. He bowls a couple more wides in the over, once again the radar going awry. Obvious talent, Tyagi. But he is searching too hard for wickets and changing his landing zone too often. 7 conceded by him in four overs, and six of those have been wides. Worryingly, he is walking off the field feeling his hamstring.

After 6 overs, Japan 11/2 (Noguchi 6, Sahoo 0)

A boundary for Japan, their first of the tournament! A full toss from Akash Singh (There have been a few of those) and it is driven square by the 16-year-old Noguchi. That will give him some confidence.

After 5 overs, Japan 6/2 (Noguchi 1, Sahoo 0)

And the hat-trick delivery is erratic. Down the leg side from Tyagi. Waste of a delivery by the pacer! But that over should be the template for Indian pacers. Full and targetting the stumps.

4.4: WICKET!!!! Kartik Tyagi has two in two!

Another delivery on the stumps, full at the batsman and it is plumb LBW! Neel Date is out for a golden duck and Tyagi is on a hattrick. Japan 5/2

4.3: WICKET!!!! There you go, Kartik Tyagi strikes early.

That’s the benefit of sticking to the basics. Tyagi lands one full on the stumps at pace and Japan captain Thurgate plays around it. Bowled. Out for 1. Japan 5/1.

After 4 overs, Japan 5/0 (Thurgate 1, Noguchi 1)

Another over where an India quick is perhaps trying too hard to get the breakthrough. India will be better off sticking to basics. Akash Singh starts over the wicket then around the wicket but the stumps are not being targeted enough. Finishes the over with a bouncer. It’s a maiden.

Japan 5/0 (3 overs)

A bit wild from Tyagi. A few outside the off-stump, then a wide down the leg-side and then a few that just went through the batsman. Unpredictable for now. Still finding his bearings or maybe trying too hard to.

Japan 4/0 (2 overs)

First runs off the bat. Noguchi gets off the mark with a single. Aggressive field being set by India and left-armer Akash is getting the ball to come back into the right-hander.

Japan 1/0 (1 over)

Thurgate and Noguchi are out to open the innings for Japan – the first order of the day will be to just spend time in the middle. One wide to start things off.

1.21 pm: The confirmation of the playing XIs. Opener Divyaansh Saxena, Shubhang Hegde and Sushant Mishra are out of the XI. Kumar Kushagra, Shashwat Rawat and Vidyadhar Patil come in. Japan are unchanged from the match against NZ.

1.18 pm: Garg says at the toss that his team wanted to make the most of the moisture. India have made three changes.

It doesn’t get better for us says Japan captain Marcus Thurgate. Here’s their story:

1.08 pm: We will confirm the playing XIs shortly. In the meantime, here’s round-up of how Garg and Co fared against Sri Lanka.

How Indian players fared in the first match of the tournament. Read here.

1.04 pm: The toss is news is in. Priyam Garg has opted to bowl in Bloemfontein.

1.00 pm: Hello all and welcome to the live coverage of the ICC Under-19 World Cup, as India take on Japan in their second match of Group A. Yes, you read that right. It’s Japan at the cricket world cup!

Defending champions India got their ICC U19 Cricket World Cup title defence off to a perfect start with an impressive 90-run win over Sri Lanka in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Siddhesh Veer was the standout as his unbeaten 44 off 27 balls helped set a challenging target of 297 for four, before he was one of three Indian bowlers to take two wickets as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 207.

Half-centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal, captain Priyam Garg and Dhruv Jurel helped India post a commanding 297 for four, before two wickets apiece from Akash Singh, Siddhesh Veer and Ravi Bishnoi proved crucial in dismissing their sub-continent compatriots.

Victory sends India straight to the top of Group A in what they will hope is the start of a successful quest to claim a record-extending fifth ICC U19 Cricket World Cup title.

Meanwhile, Japan’s first match against New Zealand was washed out due to rain.

Toss update shortly.