Imad Wasim resists in vain as India U-19 win

Imad Wasim's brave effort on the final day went in vain as India Under-19s achieved a massive 271-run win against the Pakistan juniors in the first four-day match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

Pakistan were down and out when play started on the final morning, but a determined fightback led by Imad almost gave them an outside chance of saving the match. India, however, managed to bowl out Pakistan for 174 in the second innings an hour before the scheduled close to earn victory.

Imad stood like a rock in an attempt to save the day for Pakistan and in the process played 249 balls and stayed at the wicket for almost 300 minutes for his 35 runs. India were almost certain to wrap up the match by lunch, but Pakistan had other ideas. The overnight not-out batsmen Imad and Behram Khan (18) stood at the crease till 15 minutes before lunch. It was only through a dubious decision that India finally succeeded in taking their first wicket of the day.

Behram was given out caught at silly point by Tanmay Srivastava off Ravi Jadeja, but it seemed the ball had touched the ground before the catch was taken. Instead of giving the benefit of the doubt to the batsman, umpire Shakeel Khan gave the decision in favour of the bowler.

This was the second time in two successive days that the umpire had gone wrong. On Saturday, captain Mohammad Ibrahim (5) was given out when the ball deflected off the helmet before being plucked by wicketkeeper Omkar Gaurav.

Despite the loss of Behram, Imad stayed cool and with the help of wicketkeeper Abdul Rauf (36) continued his efforts to deny India victory. Rauf, who was the next man out, struck five fours and put on 69 runs for the seventh wicket, but it was the time and overs they consumed that mattered the most.

After fighting bravely for almost a day, Imad was the last man to get out. He struck three fours in his epic innings and impressed the sizeable crowd with the spirit and dedication he showed to stay at the crease.

Piyush Chawala, the Indian captain, broke the defenses of a couple of Pakistanis with well disguised googlies and finished with 4 for 50. However, the most impressive Indian bowler was Vijakumar Yomahesh who took 4 for 44.

Both teams will now leave for Peshawar on Monday to play the second four-day match, starting on September 13. The four limited-overs matches will be played from September 19.