Bangladesh beat India and UAE beat Pakistan to make the Under-19 Asia Cup final
The semi-finals of the age-group tournament threw up two surprising results
PTI
15-Dec-2023
Bangladesh fans had reason to cheer as their Under-19 team beat India to make the Asia Cup final • Getty Images
Ariful Islam's counter-punching fifty and a fiery spell by left-arm pacer Maruf Mridha helped Bangladesh score a four-wicket win over India to reach the final of the Under-19 Asia Cup in Dubai on Friday.
On a slightly two-paced pitch, Indian batters struggled to get going before getting bundled out for 188 in 42.4 overs, with Musheer Khan (50) and Murugan Abhishek (62) doing the bulk of the scoring.
Despite some jitters, Bangladesh went over the line pretty comfortably in 42.5 overs with Islam (94 off 90 balls) defending the Indian charge with an engaging innings.
However, it was Maruf who kickstarted India's poor day with a superb opening spell. He took 4 for 41. The pacer found some bounce and swing upfront to reduce India to 13 for 3 inside seven overs. Openers Adarsh Singh, Arshin Kulkarni and captain Uday Saharan returned without troubling the scorers much.
But Musheer and Abhishek shared an 84-run alliance for the seventh-wicket to lift India from a precarious 61 for 6. They batted quite fluently and Musheer brought up his fifty off 59 balls with a single to long-off. Abhishek clobbered Sheikh Jibon for a huge six over long-off to bring his fifty in 64 balls.
However, both the batters departed without building further as India sank to a modest total.
In reply, Bangladesh too made a shaky start and were 34 for 3 in 9.4 overs. But Ariful found an able ally in Ahrar Amin (44 off 101 balls) as the duo milked 138 runs for a stubborn fourth-wicket stand to peg India back.
Ariful was a bit circumspect to begin with but once he found his range, the right-hander played some delectable shots around the park to deny Indian bowlers for a long while. Bangladesh lost a couple of more wickets towards the end, but that only created artificial excitement.
In the first semi-final, UAE shocked fancied Pakistan by 11 runs to set up a date with Bangladesh in the final. UAE made 193 all out largely thanks to a 55 off 57 balls by captain Aayan Afzal Khan and a 46 off 70 balls by opener Aryansh Sharma. They then defended the target zealously to bowl out Pakistan to 182 all out with three balls to spare.