U-19s snatch semi defeat

I tried my best, but we could not finish it. We are a new team; in that sense we did well. I cannot express the pain in words.

Shamim Hossain

Bangladesh Under-19 batsman 

The equation to enter their first Under-19 Asia Cup final was 28 runs required from 11 overs with four wickets in hand and a specialist batsman at the crease on 45. That seeming cakewalk turned into a nightmare for Bangladesh Under-19 as they could bat just 7.2 of those overs and were all out two runs short of India Under-19's score of 172 in the semifinal at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

In those 7.2 overs Mrittunjoy Chowdhury was caught and bowled by left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi before Shamim Hossain -- who top-scored with 59 off 81 balls -- needlessly slogged an Ajay Gangapuram slower ball to be caught at midwicket. Bangladesh were still 12 runs adrift then, and without adding a single run Shoriful Islam holed out to square leg off left-arm pacer Mohit Jangra. Rakibul Hasan and Minhazur Rahman then inched the total to 170 in the 47th over, when the final bit of panic led to the latter's run out after Rakibul had played the ball straight to short third man and a tragicomic mixup found Minhazur stranded in the middle and eventually well short of his crease.

Even before that debacle, Bangladesh's batting problems were on full display as they lost half their side within the first 20 overs with 65 runs on the board. Jangra asked all the right questions, with the ball swinging into right-handed opener Sajid Hossain who was first to depart in the third over, overbalancing as he flicked an inswinger straight to short midwicket.

Jangra accounted for the other opener, Prantik Nawroz Nabil, in the sixth over. Mahmudul Hasan Joy provided the early impetus with a 38-ball 25, but failed to capitalise as he was caught off left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai. Skipper Towhid Hridoy took 31 balls to score eight before he too fell to Desai in the 18th over, and the spinner came back to dismiss Rishad Hossain in his next over.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Akbar Ali then resurrected the innings with Shamim, hitting crisp sweep shots against India's spinners in a 74-run sixth-wicket stand that should have settled the issue. However, after Akbar fell to a soft dismissal, the youth side showed that losing the plot against India was not the sole preserve of the senior team.

Earlier, Bangladesh left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam picked up three wickets to move to the top of the tournament wicket-takers' charts with eight to help bundle out India for their lowest total in this edition.

Shoriful started by having opener Devdut Padikkal caught behind in the third over. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Anuj Rawat then put on a 66-run second-wicket stand, but the latter's dismissal to the off-spin of Hridoy set off a collapse of four wickets for eight runs as India stumbled to 77 for five. Leg-spinner Rishad and Hridoy combined to take two wickets apiece in the collapse before another partnership – a 59-run fifth-wicket stand between Ayosh Badoni and Sameer Choudhary.

Minhazur Rahman broke the stand by dismissing Badoni, before Shoriful came back to bowl Sameer. In his next over, the 47th, he bowled number nine batsman Tyagi, and Mrittunjoy got rid of Ajay Gangapuram and Jangra to end the innings with three balls left to be played. 

SCORES IN BRIEF

INDIA U-19S: 172 all out in 49.2 overs (Jiswal 37, Sameer 36, Badoni 28, Rawat 35; Shoriful 3-16, Towhid 2-4, Mrittunjoy 2-27, Rishad 2-36)

BANGLADESH U-19S: 170 all out in 46.2 overs (Mahmudul 25, Shamim 59, Akbar 45; Jangra 3-25, Desai 3-35, Harsh 2-29)

Result: India U-19s won by 2 runs.