Having suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Nepal a few days ago, the India U-19 team, coached by batting great Rahul Dravid, crashed out of the ACC U-19 Asia Cup after an eight-wicket hammering from Bangladesh on Tuesday.
With one win and two defeats in three matches, India U-19 finished third in Group A — above hosts Malaysia.
In a rain-truncated match in Kuala Lumpur, the Indian U-19 team could manage 187 for 8 in their allotted 32 overs. In reply, Bangladesh U-19 were bolstered by Pinak Ghosh’s 77-ball 81 not out as they cruised past India’s target with eight wickets in hand and four overs to spare.
Put in to bat, India U-19’s No. 7 batsman Salman Khan top-scored with 39, while wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat scored 34. India lost Manoj Kalra on the fourth ball of the first over for one, while Himanshu Rana fell in the 10th over when Nayeem Hasan had him caught by Qazi Onik for 15.
Rawat and Riyan Parag steadied the innings with a 31-run stand for the third wicket, but Robiul Haque — who claimed 3 for 43 off 6 overs — struck to dismiss the No 4 batsman Parag. The Indian team then suffered a batting collapse of sorts, as they slipped from 68 for 3 to 187 for 8 with none of their batsman showing any resistance.
{{/usCountry}}Rawat and Riyan Parag steadied the innings with a 31-run stand for the third wicket, but Robiul Haque — who claimed 3 for 43 off 6 overs — struck to dismiss the No 4 batsman Parag. The Indian team then suffered a batting collapse of sorts, as they slipped from 68 for 3 to 187 for 8 with none of their batsman showing any resistance.
{{/usCountry}}For Bangladesh U-19 team, Nayeem picked up 2 for 38 off his 7 overs while Afif Hossain claimed 2 for 38 off his six.
In their reply, Bangladesh showed no qualms in launching an attack. India tried as many as six bowlers to pull things back but there was no stopping the Bangladeshi openers, who added 82 runs.
Ghosh, who remained unbeaten on 81 off 77 balls, clobbered 3 sixes and 6 boundaries in his innings while his opening partner Naim Sheikh fell in the 14th over of their chase. He was dismissed by Mandeep Singh, caught by Rawat for a 44-ball 38 with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
Bangladesh captain Saif Hassan fell after a run-a-ball 16, but Towhid Hridoy teamed up with Ghosh to keep the Indians at bay and finish the job. Hridoy was aggressive in his unbeaten 48, which came off 32 balls with 4 sixes and 2 fours. For India, Mandeep claimed 2 for 36 off his 5 overs.
India’s batting firepower was weakened after prodigious Mumbai batsman Prithvi Shaw was pulled out from the squad ahead of the tournament. Shaw took the field for India’s Board President’s XI to face New Zealand in their warm-up games last month, and then joined Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy campaign.
Brief scores: India U-19: 187/8 in 32 overs (S Khan 39*, R Haque 3/43); Bangladesh U-19: 191/2 in 28 overs ( P Ghosh 81*, M Singh 2/36)