Potchefstroom (South Africa): Sharp bowling from the fiery Bangladesh pacers and good fielding coupled with some slack running between the wickets led to India folding for 177 in the ICC U19 World Cup final on Sunday in Potchefstroom. India are looking to win their fifth title while this is the first time that Bangladesh have reached the final.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was the standout performer for India, scoring 88 off 121 balls. He has scored at least a half century in all but one match in this tournament, and ends it as top scorer with a whopping 400 runs.
However, his team mates fell in a pack to Bangladesh who came out all guns blazing.
India were put to bat first after Bangladesh won the toss and openers Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena were greeted with a barrage of deliveries angled at the body and cramping them for space. Saxena was, especially, targeted by Tanzim Hasan Sakib with the ball and verbally. It took India 14 balls to finally get their first run.
The constant pressure from Sakib and Shoriful Islam eventually did the trick when Saxena flashed at a delivery outside off stump and drove it straight to backward point. Avishek Das was the man who got the wicket and it was his first over of the match.
After this came the most stable period of the Indian innings as Jaiswal and Tilak Varma stood their ground to the Bangladesh attack. Runs began to flow and Jaiswal scored his fifth 50 of the tournament. The pair also took India past the 100-run mark and their partnership was worth 94 runs.
It was Sakib who eventually got the breakthrough for Bangladesh with a short delivery that Varma looked to cut. The ball flew into the hands of the fielder at deep backward point.
Jaiswal then found able company in wicketkeeper Dhruv Jorel but ended up falling to Shoriful Islam eight overs later. He cramped Jaiswal for room and his attempted shot flew to short midwicket where Tanzid Hasan was standing.
India went on to lose their next six wickets for 21 runs in the next nine overs. Islam dismissed Siddesh Veer off the very next ball of the over after which Jorel and Ravi Bishnoi were both run out due to mix-ups between the wicket. Atharva Ankolekar and Kartik Tyagi were dismissed by Avishek while Sushant Mishra fell to Sakib.
Brief scores: India U19 177 in 47.2 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 88, Tilak Varma 38; Avishek Das 3/28) vs Bangladesh U19.
