A solid 44 from opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi after a combined bowling display saw India beating defending champions Bangladesh in the quarter-finals of the ICC U-19 World Cup 2022 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua on Saturday. India overhauled a small target of 112 in 30.5 overs for the loss of five wickets to set up a semi-final clash with Australia.
On a difficult surface for batting, India captain Yash Dhull made the right call at the toss to bowl first and his new-ball bowler Ravi Kumar jolted Bangladesh with three wickets in a five-over spell from which they couldn’t recover. Left-arm spinner Vicky Ostwal then two wickets in an over leaving them tottering at 37/5 in 15.4 overs and soon the 2020 champions found themselves in danger of being bowled out under 100.
Also Read: IND vs BAN, U19 CWC Highlights
A solid partnership worth 50 runs for the eighth wicket between SM Meherob and Ashiqur Rahman prevented that as the duo took the score past the 100-run mark. When they were batting, there were hopes of Bangladesh being able to put up a fighting total but once Meherob was stumped off part-timer Raghuvanshi on 30, the innings folded quickly for 111 in 37.1 overs.
For India Ravi took 3/14 while Vicky finished with 2/25.
However, Bangladesh didn’t give up without putting up a decent fight. Tanzim Hasan Sakib made an early breakthrough with the wicket of opener Harnoor Singh for a duck.
Runs were hard to come by in the early part of the India innings and the pair of Raghuvanshi and vice-captain Shaik Rasheed was more than happy to drop anchor and ride through the phase. The strategy brought them rich dividends as they soon started hitting boundaries with ease.
Raghuvanshi looked destined for a half-century but he got greedy on 44 looking to score more boundaries but ended up being caught off Ripon Mondol (4/31). The dismissal brought an end to Raghuvanshi’s partnership with Rasheed for the second wicket which was worth 70 runs.
That was a period when Mondol took four wickets in as many overs to re-ignite his team’s chances, reducing India to 82/4 and then 97/5. However, Dhull played some gorgeous shots in his unbeaten 26-ball 20 to end those flickering hopes.
Vicky Tambe, who remained unbeaten on 11, sealed India’s win with a six off Bangladesh captain Rakibul Hasan.
India will take on Australia in the Super League semi-final on Wednesday.
Brief Scores: India U19 117/5 (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 44; Ripon Mondol 4/31) beat Bangladesh U19 111 (SM Meherob 30; Ravi Kumar 3/14) by five wickets
Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here
.