Clinical India clinch sixth title

Much like their seniors in the recently concluded Asia Cup, an unbeaten campaign culminated in the Indian youths clinching their sixth Under-19 Asia Cup with a 144-run win over Sri Lanka Under-19 in the final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi was the star of the show as he cut through the Sri Lankan batting order with figures of six for 38 in 10 overs as the young islanders collapsed to 160 all out in chase of India's 304 for three.

Tyagi was all over the Sri Lankans like white on rice, taking the wickets of opener Nishan Fernando, middle-order batsmen Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Kalana Perera, Nuwanindu Fernando and tailenders Sandun Mendia and Kalhara Senarathne.

Sri Lanka reached 66 for one after opener Nipun Dananjaya was dismissed by left-arm seamer Mohit Jangra. But when Tyagi had Sooriyabandara caught for 31 in the 16th over, it started a collapse of three wickets for 13 runs with the third one being the innings top-scorer, Fernando with 49.

From then, only number six Navod Paranavithana showed any resistance with a 61-ball 48, but the rest were a procession of incoming and outgoing batsmen as no one other than the three top order batsmen and Paranavithana scored more than seven. Left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai was the other wicket-taker with two scalps.

Earlier, India's dominance started with a clinical show from the batsmen as they lost only three wickets while piling on 304 after opting to bat at the toss. All five batsmen played substantial innings, with the lowest score being 31 from Devdutt Padikkal at number three. Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Anuj Rawat set the tone with a 121-run stand before the latter departed for 57 off 79 balls with four fours and three sixes. A 59-run second-wicket stand followed before Jaiswal was out for the top score of 85 off 113 balls with eight fours and a six.

Padikkal was third out with the score on 194 in 40.5 overs, and Simran Singh and Ayudh Badoni then plundered 110 runs off the last 55 balls in an unbroken stand.

SCORES IN BRIEF

INDIA U-19s: 304 for 3 in 50 overs (Jaiswal 85, Anuj 57, Padikkal 31, Simran 65 not out, Badoni 52 not out; Perera 1-55, Senarathne 1-45, Wellalage 1-24)

SRI LANKA U-19s: 160 all out in 38.4 overs (Fernando 49, Sooriyabandara 31, Paranavithana 48; Desai 2-37, Tyagi 6-38)

Result: India U-19s won by 144 runs.

Player-of-the-match: Harsh Tyagi.