Rain simplified the equation, leaving Bangladesh needing 75 runs from 70 balls. Their captain, Mohammad Azizul, was well set, but an unlikely saviour emerged for India with the ball in this Group B match of the ICC U-19 World Cup in Bulawayo. Vihaan Malhotra (4/14), supported by Khilan Patel (2/35), turned the game on its head with his part-time off-spin, to seal an 18-run victory under the DLS method. India had posted 238, with Abhigyan Kundu (80) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (72) leading the scoring.
At the halfway mark, Kundu said he was pleased with the total the team had put up. Inside the first 10 overs, three wickets had fallen, with two coming in the third over itself. Captain Ayush Mhatre, deputy Malhotra and Vedant Trivedi once again failed to fire. Even as wickets fell, Sooryavanshi stayed true to his natural game, scoring a quickfire 38 inside the power play.
Sooryavanshi needed a partner to stay with him, and he found that in Kundu. The two left-handed batters brought the innings back on track with a 62-run partnership. As he got his eye in, Sooryavanshi took on the role of aggressor, with Kundu playing second fiddle. The pacers kept bowling nagging lengths. Whenever they erred, the opener pounced. Kundu was content to block the good deliveries and rotate the strike when possible.
Once the spinners were introduced, the initially tentative pair eased into their innings. The ball was gripping and turning, with occasional plays and misses, but largely the duo looked comfortable at the crease. Sooryavanshi brought up his half-century and continued at the same tempo. A hard-length delivery denied him a century that seemed there for the taking. Another short ball accounted for Harvansh Pangalia. Iqbal Hossain dismissed both batters in his second spell.
Kundu completed his half-century in 82 balls. The wicketkeeper-batter upped the ante after that. Kanishk Chouhan came in and smashed a quick 28 before rain arrived. Soon after play resumed, RS Ambrish was dismissed. Boundaries were hard to come by after the break, even for a set batter like Kundu, but a couple of hits from Deepesh Devendran took India past 230.
Al Fahad was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers. The right-arm medium-pacer struck twice in his opening spell before claiming three more later in the innings to complete his five-wicket haul.
Another rain interruption reduced Bangladesh’s target to 165 from 29 overs. Deepesh had struck with the new ball, removing Zawad Abrar in the first over. Azizul Hakim led the recovery with Mohammad Rifat. Kanishk broke the threatening partnership before the rain arrived again.
India had to strike back to stay in the contest, as the revised target appeared manageable, with Bangladesh having wickets in hand. Spin proved decisive. Khilan Patel claimed the crucial wicket of Azizul, who top-scored with 51, before Malhotra got into the act to deny Bangladesh what had looked like a comfortable victory at one stage.
Brief scores: India 238 in 48.4 overs (Abhigyan Kundu 80; Al Fahad 5/38) beat Bangladesh 146 in 28.3 overs (Mohammad Azizul 51; Vihaan Malhotra 4/14) by 18 runs via DLS method.
For More Sports Related News: Follow RevSportz
