After losing their opening game to India earlier this week, Pakistan bounced back in style at the Under-19 World Cup with a 145-run victory over Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Monday.

Batting first, Pakistan produced an impressive innings to post 285 in 50 overs for the loss of eight wickets.

A brilliant opening partnership between captain Sami Aslam (62) and Imam-ul-Haq (88) ensured Pakistan got off to a great start, scoring 129 between them in 25 overs.

The first wicket fell midway through the innings when Aslam was dismissed lbw by Riley Hekure. Hassan Raza stepped in two down and continued Pakistan's brilliant spree, scoring 44 off 46 balls to bring up the total to 197.  Haq was then caught by Anthony Vare through a Kabua Vagi Morea who went on to take three wickets.

As Pakistan neared 40 overs, their middle order failed to perform, with six wickets tumbling as they lost 6 wickets in the final 10 overs.

Alei Nao and Hekure picked up two wickets each limiting Pakistan to the 283 total.

In response the Pakistani bowlers put up an equally impressive effort bowling the PNG team out for 138 in 30 overs with opening batsman Kiplin Doriga top scoring with 51.

Any chance of a miraculous PNG fightback looked increasingly unlikely when opener Hekure was dismissed for duck in the first over before Gaudi Toka was sent back to the pavilion for four. 

While PNG struggled to produce any significant partnerships, Doriga settled in well as he kept the runs constant, but he also fell prey to the Pakistan bowlers in the 20th over as a catch by Ameer Hamza through a Zafar Gohar delivery.

Gohar was the pick of the bowlers, helping himself to four wickets in his eight overs at the expense of only 35 runs, while Haq picked up two of the early wickets for his team.

Scotland are up next for Pakistan on Wednesday as they step into their final game of the group fixtures aiming to book a place for themselves in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.