Adarsh Singh had a stunning catch in the splits against the Pakistan U-19 team© Twitter
India got off to a good start with the ball in their U-19 Asia Cup 2023 match against Pakistan, as Murugan Abhishek dismissed Shamil Hossain for 8 runs in the fifth over. India have stuttered with the bat but managed to score a defensible total of 259 runs with the bat. Although the batsmen could not put a better total on the board, the onus was on the bowlers to bat early. Abhishek did just that, but after a lot of help from Adarsh Singh in the slips.
Adarsh slid towards his right, and caught a low catch after the ball hit the outside edge of Hussain’s bat. The amazing catch had the entire Indian camp rejoicing. Here is the video:
Speaking of the match, Pakistan took advantage of Azaan Owais’ brilliant unbeaten century to beat arch-rivals India by eight wickets in the ongoing U-19 Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday. India managed to average 259 for 9 in 50 overs, largely due to a late surge by Sachin Das, who stroked three sixes in a 42-ball 58.
Skipper Uday Sahara (60 off 98 balls) and opener Adarsh Singh (62 off 81 balls) were unable to impose the pace by adding just 93 runs in 20 overs.
For the winners, right-arm medium pacer Mohammad Zeeshan took four for 46.
The biggest name in the U-19 squad – Sarfaraz Khan’s younger brother, Mushir (2) was unable to repeat the opening match performance.
In reply, Pakistan came home in just 47 runs with southpaw Azan anchoring the chase, scoring a patient 105 not out off 130 balls with 10 fours.
He first added 110 for the second wicket with opener Shazib Khan (63 off 88 balls) and another 125 in just 19.1 with Saad Baig, who smashed an unbeaten 68 off just 51 balls with eight boundaries and a maximum.
Skipper Saharan used as many as seven bowlers but did not measure up with off-spinner Murugan Abhishek taking the wicket.
Mushir had a memorable outing as he was hit for 32 runs in four overs.
India will play their final league match on Tuesday against Nepal and need to win it in order to qualify for the semi-finals while Pakistan, who have two wins from two matches, will have to lose by a wide margin to Afghanistan in order to qualify.
It shouldn’t be a problem for the Indian Colts as Nepal are not the toughest team to beat, having already lost their two encounters.
Brief Scores: India 259/9 in 50 overs (Uday Sahara 60, Adarsh Singh 62, Sachin Das 58, Mohammad Zeeshan 4/46); Pakistan 263/2 in 47 overs (Azaan Owais 105 not out, Saab Baig 68 not out, Shazaib Khan 63, Murugan Abhishek 2/55).
With PTI input
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