My first day's report on Asian Cricket Council website: India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka off to a winning start in the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup

By K.R. Nayar

India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka got off to a winning start on the first day of the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup matches held at the ICC Academy ground and Sharjah Cricket Stadium. India outplayed hosts UAE by 154 runs while Pakistan won over Afghanistan by four wickets through a well-fought match at the ICC Academy grounds. Sri Lanka registered an emphatic 274 runs over Kuwait at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Harnoor Singh's century guides India to victory over hosts UAE

 Opener Harnoor Singh cracked a century and guided India to a formidable total and outplay hosts UAE by 154 runs at the ICC Academy ground 1. Singh carried his form from the recent Triangular Series in India where he had scored 111 against Bangladesh in Kolkata last month. On the opening day of the ninth edition of the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup, Singh cracked 120 off 130 deliveries studded with 11 boundaries to help India post 282 for 5 in 50 overs. UAE could muster only 128 runs before the tight Indian bowling attack.

Earlier, UAE won the toss and elected to field. Host skipper Alishan Sharafu ran out Indian opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi for 2 in the third over. However, opener Harnoor Singh picked the gaps well, and along with one-drop Shaik Rasheed, accelerated the run flow.  Singh reached his half-century in 57 balls. The pair put on 90 runs for the second wicket before Afzal Khan got his reward for his tight bowling. He had Rasheed caught by Soorya Satish for 35. Rasheed’s knock which came off 60 balls had just one boundary.

Harnoor Singh celebrates on reaching his century. Photo: ACC 

Skipper Yash Dhull joined Singh and India went past the 150 run mark in 32 overs. Singh reached his century in 106 balls with ten boundaries. India’s 200 runs came in the 42^nd over and Dhull reached his half-century in 61 balls.  In the 44^th over, Sharafu ended Singh’s fine knock by having him caught by Dhruv Parashar for 120. Singh and Dhull had recorded a 120 runs partnership in 130 balls for the third wicket.  After Nishant Sindhu got run out for a duck, Sharafu ended Dhull’s knock of 63 by trapping him leg before. His 63 came off 68 balls, and had four boundaries. Then Rajvardhan Hangargekar lifted India to formidable total of 282 for 5 through a quick unbeaten 48 off just 23 balls with six boundaries and two sixes.

Chasing the target, UAE found it tough to maintain the momentum before the tight Indian bowling. Though opener Kai Smith played confidently to hit 45 runs, the rest of the batsmen could not rise to the challenge. One drop Dhruv Parashar (19)  and skipper Alishan Sharafu (11), despite settling down, could not covert their innings into a big knock.

Medium-pacer Garv Sangwan took the wickets of both Parashar and Sharafu. To make matters difficult for the UAE, Punya Mehra got run out for 6. Smith, who was batting fluently on 45, also got caught behind in the bowling of off-spinner Kaushal Tambe.  When Tambe struck again to have Ali Naseer caught and bowled for a duck, UAE was struggling at 92 for 5.  Medium-pacer Rajvardhan Hangargekar hastened their victory taking two quicks wickets of Nilansh Keswani for 3 and Adithya Shetty for one. Soorya Satish went for his shots and hit a quick 21 runs off 26 balls with four boundaries before he was trapped leg-before by left-arm spinner Vicky Oswal.

Commenting on the century, Player of the Match Harnoor Singh said: “It is a special feeling to get a century in the Asia Cup. Though I did hit a century last month in the Triangular series, I would rate this as more important. This knock is also special since I have been able to help my country get off to a good start in this tournament.”

India captain Yash Dhull hailed Harnoor Singh's knock and said: “It was a brilliant century and we needed that to pile up a good score. I enjoyed batting with him too. I think we bowled, batted, and fielded well, and that has given us this win. We want to continue to perform in such a  manner in the coming matches.”

UAE skipper Alishan Sharafu feels the exposure against India will do them good. “We feel that we bowled well against such a strong batting lineup. A total of 275 was a par score on this wicket. We should have batted better but we could not produce any partnerships. It was a good test of our skills. We will work on our shortcomings and put on a stronger performance in the coming matches.”

Brief scores:

India Under-19 bt UAE Under 19 by 154 runs
India Under-19: 282 for 5 in 50 overs (Harnoor Singh 120, Shaik Rasheed 35, Yash Dhull 63, Rajvardhan Hangargekar 48n.o, Alishan Sharafu 2 for 44) UAE Under-19: 128 in 34.3 overs (Kai Smith 45, Soorya Satish 21, Rajvardhan Hangargekar 3 for 24, Garv Sangwan 2 for 39, Vicky Ostwal 2 for 7, Kaushal Tambe 2 for 16)
Player of the Match: Harnoor Singh
  

Pakistan restrict Afghanistan to a paltry 52 runs and win by four wickets

Pakistan bowled out Afghanistan for 52 runs in their first match at the ICC Academy Ground 2 and recorded a four-wicket victory. Ahmed Khan bagged three wickets for 21 runs, well backed by Zeeshan Zameer (2 for 12) and Awais Ali (2 for 9), to restrict Afghanistan in 23.1 overs. Afghanistan fought back valiantly and took six wickets before Pakistan won with 200 balls to spare.

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat but got off to a shaky start. They lost their opener Suliman Arabzai to the fifth ball of the first over, getting run out for a duck. One-drop batsman Bilal Sayedi too quickly followed, caught behind by wicketkeeper Haseebullah Khan off Zeeshan Zameer for a duck. Afghanistan skipper and opener Suliman Saif lasted just 19 balls to score four runs and fell leg before to Ahmed Khan. Soon Ahmed Khan also trapped Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai leg before for a duck. When Izharulhaq Naveed too fell caught by Irfan Khan off Ahmed Khan, half of the Afghanistan side were back in the pavilion for 12 runs in 5.6 overs.

Umpire KN Anandapadmanabhan watches as Pakistan pacer Zeeshan Zameer bowls. Photo: ACC

Nangeyalia Khan and Mohammad Ishaq tried hard to lift their team out of trouble. They put on 27 runs for the sixth wicket from 59 deliveries before Nangeyalia Khan got bowled by Pakistan skipper Qasim Akram for 15. One run later, Awais Ali dismissed Izharullahq Naveed for 1. Ishaq, who withstood 36 deliveries to score nine runs, became another Awais Ali victim. Ali Asfand and Zameer took the last two wickets to bowl out Afghanistan for a paltry 52 runs in 23.1 overs.

 Chasing the moderate total, Pakistan lost their opener Abdul Wahid for nine runs in the fifth over to Bilal Sami. One-drop Mohammad Shahzad too got out to Sami for a duck. Two down for 18 in seven overs, opener Maaz Ahmad Sadaqat and Haseebullah played cautiously and steadied the innings. They put on 24 runs in 32 balls before Haseebullah got clean bowled by Noor Ahmad Lakhanwal for 11. Lakanwal also dismissed Qasim Akram for a duck. Pakistan slipped to 48 for 5 when Izharullahq Naveed trapped Mohammad Irfan Khan leg before for 4. Lakanwala also clean bowled Rizwan Mehmood Syed for 2 before opener Sadaqat took the team to the target remaining unbeaten on 14.  

Commenting on the victory Pakistan skipper Qasim Akram said: “We are very happy to get off to a winning start. We bowled really well although the finish was not what we wanted. We will work harder on our batting. We lost some quick wickets due to some rushed shots. Overall we are happy with our performance.”

Player of the match Awais Ali is delighted at his performance. “Our plan was to end the Afghanistan innings quickly. I am delighted to have contributed to it. Our objective was to contain the runs and I am happy I could pick some quick wickets too. I am also thrilled at being the first Player of the Match of this tournament.”

 Afghanistan skipper Sulaiman Safi attributed his team’s defeat to the insufficient score. “Being the first match, our batsmen struggled to get used to the conditions. If we had at least 100 runs we are confident we would have pulled off a victory. We have learned a lot from this match and will come back stronger in the next.”

Brief scores:  
Pakistan Under-19 bt Afghanistan Under 19 by four wickets
Afghanistan 52 in 23.1 overs (Nangeyalia Khan 15, Ahmed Khan 3 for 21 runs, Zeeshan Zameer 2 for 12 and Awais Ali 2 for 9. Pakistan 53 for 6 in 16.4 overs (Maaz Ahmad Sadaqat 14n.o, Bilal Sami 2 for 16, Noor Ahmad Lakanwal 2 for 20)
Player of the Match: Awais Ali.

Sri Lanka dominate Kuwait for emphatic victory

Sri Lanka registered an impressive 274 runs victory over Kuwait at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. They displayed their batting strength to pile up 323 for 5 and then bowled out Kuwait for just 49 runs. Pawan Pathiraja lead the run spree through a knock of 86 and bag the Player of the Match award.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat and got off to a brilliant start. Openers Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Shevon Daniel scored at a brisk pace. Wickramasinghe reached his half-century in 47 balls. Daniel played second fiddle and the pair put on 91 runs in 17.2 overs before Wickramasinghe got bowled by Habier Ali. His knock of 54 off 57 balls had five boundaries and a six.

Daniel reached his half-century in 60 balls but four runs later Abdullah Zaheer got him out leg before. His 54 came off 65 balls with four boundaries and a six. Sadisha Rajapaksa then went for his shots and Sri Lanka went past the 150 run mark in 27 overs. Habier Ali struck again to remove Rajapaksa whose 35 off 37 balls included four boundaries. Pawan Pathiraja then increased the run flow with some powerful shots.

Sri Lankans celebrate their big victory . Photo: ACC

Sri Lanka reached went past 200 runs in 36 overs. Ranuda Somarathne played the supporting role and the pair put on 114 runs in 93 deliveries for the fourth wicket before Pathiraja fell to Zeeshan Azeem for 86 off 72 balls with eleven boundaries. Azeem also dismissed Sri Lankan skipper Dunith Wellalage for 19. Ranuda Somarathne remained unbeaten on 60 off 57 balls with four boundaries to ensure a whopping total of 323 for 5 in 50 overs.

Kuwait needed to score at a run rate of 6.46 to achieve their target. Their opener and skipper Meet Bhavsar along with Jude Saldanha posted 31 runs from 5.3 overs. Sadisha Rajapaksa ended that partnership by clean bowling Bhavsar for 25. Rajapaksa also removed one-down Muhammad Umar for 2. With the score on 40, opener Saldanha got stumped by wicketkeeper Anjala Bandara off Rajapaksa for 12.

When Matheesha Pathirana clean bowled Abdullah Zaheer for a duck and Dunith Wellalage trapped Abdul Sadiq leg before for 3, Kuwait slipped to 45 for 5 in 15.1 overs. Kuwait’s wickets continued to fall when Wellalage went on to trap Abdullah Farooq too leg before for 1. The quick wickets made it a mountainous task for Kuwait and they hoped for Sharyn Hill and Hilda Hills to lift them out of trouble. But the next three wickets fell with the still on 49. Wellalage did the damage by removing Hilda and Habier Ali in quick succession.

Sri Lankan skipper Dunith Wellalage hailed his team’s all-round performance. “It was a splendid all-round performance from our team. I am happy with the contribution from every team member, Pawan Pathiraja. Chamindu and Shevon and Ranudu got half-centuries, and Sadisha bowled and batted well. I am glad that Matheesha and I could ensure that we record a big win.”

Player of the Match Pawan Pathiraja attributed his knock to the encouragement from his teammates. “I am so happy that I could contribute to my team’s victory. I was able to play such a knock because of the encouragement from those who batted with me and all the others who cheered for me from outside. I am disappointed that I could not get my century but I will surely try and reach that mark in the coming matches.”

Kuwait skipper Meet Bhavsar believes it was a learning curve for his team. “They (Sri Lankans) batted and bowled so well. It was too good for us but we need to improve. Though I top-scored with 25, I would want all others to also stay longer and contribute in the coming matches. Had we not lost wickets so quickly we could have posted at least 150 to 200 runs. But we will surely try harder in the coming matches.”

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka Under-19 bt Kuwait Under-19 by 274 runs
Sri Lanka 323 for 5 in 50 overs (Chamindu Wickramasinghe 54, Shevon Daniel 54, Sadisha Rajapaksa 35, Pawan Pathiraja 86, Ranuda Somarathne 60n.o, Zeeshan Azeem 2 for 49, Habier Ali 2 for 50) Kuwait 49 in 17.3 overs (Meet Bhavsar 25, Sadisha Rajapaksa 3 for 4, Matheesha Pathirana 2 for 7,  Dunith Wellalage 4 for 2)
Player of the Match: Pawan Pathiraja.