U19 Asia Cup 2021-22 News

The Junior India team lost to Pakistan in the U19 Asia Cup in a last-ball thriller on Saturday, 25 December. Coming off a win in their inaugural game of the championship, India were expected to win the match against their arch-rivals, however, a top order collapse ushered those dreams away. Batting first, India were reduced to 41/4 inside the first 10 overs with pacer Zeeshan Zameer making easy work through the top order. Last game’s centurion Harnoor Singh was the only one in the top five who was able to put up some resistance and managed to score 46 runs off 59 balls. India were rescued from embarrassment by their lower order who battled through and saw India to a respectable score of 237 runs. Coming into the chase, India would have hoped for some quick wickets, however despite grabbing their first one very quickly, the bowling attack was fended off by Muhammad Shehzad who shielded his way to 82 off 105 balls. Pakistan were put in a spot of bother in the middle overs where they lost wickets and did not get the scoreboard moving at all, however, a fiery innings of 29 off 19 balls from Ahmed Khan made sure that they won the match with a boundary off the last ball. India play Afghanistan next in their last group stage match on Monday, 27 December.

The Indian junior national team blew away the United Arab Emirates to get their campaign going in the U-19 Asia Cup in Dubai on Thursday, 23 December. Riding on Harnoor Singh’s 120 runs off 130 balls, India registered a 154-run win against the hosts. Chasing a target of 283 runs, UAE failed to put up resistance and were not able to score freely. They needed a quick start to the innings if they wanted to chase the target down, however, they were stuck despite not losing wickets in the first 10 overs, scored just 30 runs. Getting stuck meant that wickets were going to come sooner or later and they ended up losing three in the next 10 overs. Medium pacer Garv Sangwan provided the breakthrough, cleaning up Dhruv Parashar and captain Alishan Sharafu. Once UAE were 88/3 in 19.3 overs, it started a downfall and the chasing side were reduced to 122/9 in 30 overs. They batted five more overs and got bundled out at 128 runs in 34.3 overs. Rajvardhan Hangargekar cleaned up the lower order and was the best bowler on the scoresheet having picked up three wickets in his nine overs giving away just 24 runs. Sangwan, Vicky Ostwal and Kaushal Tambe picked up two wickets each. Earlier in the day, a big partnership between Singh and captain Yash Dhull secured India to a good position. While Harnoor scored a century, Dhull began his tournament with a brisk 63 off 68 balls. In the lower order bowling hero Hangargekar scored a quickfire 48 off 23 balls to take India to a huge total. Having started their tournament on a brilliant note, India will now face Pakistan U-19 on Christmas morning and then Afghanistan on 27 December.