U-19 Asia Cup Final: India Edge Bangladesh By 5 runs To Clinch Title For 7th Time

In what was a nail-biting finale of Asian cricket's  premier Under-19  competition, the 'Men in Blue' turned around the game on its heads to clinch the title clash against Bangladesh.

Indian Under-19 cricket team on Saturday defeated Bangladesh U-19 cricket team by five runs at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo to clinch the ACC Under 19 Asia Cup 2019 trophy. In what was a nail-biting finale of Asian cricket's  premier Under-19  competition, the 'Men in Blue' turned around the game on its heads to clinch the title clash. Batting first India U-19 were bundled out for a paltry 106 giving Bangladesh bowlers the decisive edge at the half way stage of the encounter. Just when Bangladesh looked in complete control to seize the title clash, the Indian bowlers ran through their defences to clinch the match by five runs and win the title for the seventh time. In what was rather a subdued outing with the bat for India U-19 side, Karan Lal and skipper Dhruv Jurel top-scored with 37 and 33 respectively. Other than Karan and Dhruv, none of the Indian batters managed to get into double digits as Bangladesh bowlers tore apart the Indian batting order.

Defending Champions India U19 hold their nerve and seal a thrilling 5 run win over Bangladesh in U19 Asia Cup final. We are proud of you boys! ✌✌ pic.twitter.com/Lo6j32Cfte

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 14, 2019

Mrittunjoy Chowdhury and Shamim Hossain were the leading wicket takers for their team as they picked up three wickets each while Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Shahin Alam bagged one each. However, the Indian U-19 bowlers returned the favour to their Bangladesh counterparts by denting their top order and reducing them to 16-4 as Akash Singh picked up three quick wickets in his first spell. When it looked like Bangladesh U-19 were trying to make some kind of a comeback after the initial blows, Atharva Ankolekar destroyed the opposition with his left-arm orthodox bowling.