Rasheed shakes up Bangla

Sharjah, December 30

Powered by an unbeaten knock of 90 by Shaik Rasheed, India thrashed Bangladesh by 103 runs in the semifinals of the U-19 Asia Cup cricket tournament here today, thus setting up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

India No. 3 Rasheed came in at 23/1 in eight overs and anchored the innings to 243/8 with his excellent knock, even as no other batsman passed even 30.

Andhra Pradesh youngster Rasheed paced his innings to perfection after India had lost the two openers — Angkrish Raghuvanshi (16) and Harnoor Singh (15) — before the 50-run mark, by the 17th over.

Defending 243, the Indian bowlers produced a cohesive effort to bundle out Bangladesh for 140 in 38.2 overs. Ariful Islam top-scored for Bangladesh with a 77-ball 42 while opener Mahfijul Islam made 26.

Bangladesh’s chase never got going as the Indian bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals, with only Ariful providing some resistance.

Four bowlers picked up two wickets each — Ravi Kumar (2/22), Vicky Ostwal (2/25), Raj Bawa (2/26) and Rajvardhan Hangargekar (2/36) — while Kaushal Tambe (1/5) and Nishant Sindhu (1/25) accounted for the other two wickets.

Rasheed to the fore

Earlier, the Indian openers found the going tough and it was only after their dismissal that the run rate started to improve.

India lost No. 4 Sindhu for only 5 before Rasheed and skipper Yash Dhull (26 off 29) added 41 runs for the fourth wicket to stabilise the innings.

Bawa (23), Ostwal (28 not out off 18 balls) and Hangargekar (16) also played useful cameos even as Rasheed did the bulk of scoring.

Though it wasn’t a spectacular knock from Rasheed — he hit only three fours and one six — he did enough to give the Indian bowlers a target to defend.

For Bangladesh, left-arm orthodox spinner Rakibul Hasan was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 41 from 10 overs.

Lanka defend 147

India will face Sri Lanka in the title clash in Dubai on Friday. Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by 22 runs the other semifinal. Sri Lanka made a modest 147 all out after opting to bat and then restricted Pakistan to 125. — PTI

Brief scores: India U-19 243/8 (Rasheed 90; Rakibul 3/41); Bangladesh U-19 140 all out in 38.2 overs (Ariful 42; Ravi 2/22, Ostwal 2/25, Bawa 2/26, Hangargekar 2/36)