India U-19 Begin Tri-Series With Fantastic Win Over Bangladesh
The Ricky Bhui-led India Under-19 team defeated Bangladesh by 82 runs in the tri-series opener. Pacer Avesh Khan picked four wickets for four runs
Pacer Avesh Khan claimed four wickets to power India to an emphatic 82-run victory over Bangladesh in the Under-19 Tri-series one-day cricket tournament opener here on Friday. (Rahul Dravid Has Helped us Mentally, Technically: Ricky Bhui, India U-19 Captain)
Defending a paltry 159, India were off to a splendid start as the tall pacer from Madhya Pradesh reduced Bangladesh to 23/4 in 6.2 overs with his rattling spell of 6-3-4-4.
The visitors were eventually bundled out for 76 in 22 overs for an one-sided win at the Jadavpur University ground in Salt Lake here.
Khan was finely supported by left-arm pacer Kanishk Seth (2/45) at the other end as the duo bowled 12 overs in tandem before the offspin and legspin duo of Mayank Dagar (1/7) and Zeeshan Ansari (2/1) wiped out the tail to hand them a bonus point victory.
In the very first ball, Khan produced an off-cutter that sharply cut in, a ball Bangladeshi opener Mohammad Saif Hasan chose to leave as it clipped his off-stump as the visitors failed to recover from the terror.
He produced a superb spell with the new ball and generated bounce and movement off the seam to trouble the Bangladeshi top order.
In his next over, Khan had Pinak Ghosh (1) caught behind to continue his glorious spell as India could not have thought for a better start.
From the Bangladeshi perspective, none of their top-order batsman looked to hold on as they played some casual shots and wickets kept falling at regular interval against a small target.
"We've been playing together for about three years now and this is for the first time, I've seen such an atrocious batting. I totally blame the batsmen they did not apply themselves and we lost the game," Bangladeshi skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz told newsmen after their defeat.
"But we hope to bounce back, it's a long tournament as we'll play each other twice."
India now have five points, while Bangladesh are yet to open their account in the tournament also involving Afghanistan. India will take on Afghanistan tomorrow in their second match.
Earlier, Indian skipper Ricky Bhui's decision to opt to bat seemed to have backfired as the Bangladesh seamer Mohammad Abdul Halim (2/24) claimed wickets in successive balls.
His first wicket was a gem as he held on to a superb low catch off his follow through to dismiss Ishan Kishan and in the next ball he bowled Jharkhand's Virat Singh.
The Indian youngsters too failed to come up as a unit and were reduced to 76/7 as the Bangladeshi skipper (3/31) with his off breaks returned as the wrecker-in-chief.
Khan also excelled with the bat as his quickfire 25 not out from 29 balls (1x6, 2x4) in a 29-run partnership with Zeeshan Ansari (34 from 63 balls; 5x4) ensured that they got past the 150-run mark.
Brief Scores: India U-19 158; 45.3 overs (Sunder Washington 34, Zeeshan Ansari 34; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3/31, Mohammad Abdul Halim 2/24, Saleh Ahmed Shawon Gazi 2/26) beat Bangladesh U-19 76; 22 overs (Avesh Khan 4/4, Kanishk Seth 2/45, Zeeshan Ansari 2/1). India 5. Bangladesh 0.