U-19 Asia Cup | Pakistan beat India by two points in the thriller

Pakistan beat the Indians by two goals in a thriller played at the U-19 Asia Cup in Dubai on Saturday.

Pakistan drove a stroke-filled 81 with one downhill Muhammad Shehzad and a late Ahmad Khan (29 out) in a cameo series to chase the 238 target.

Ahmad hit Ravi Kumari to get a limit on the final delivery of the game to seal the game to his side.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s under-19 bowlers, led by right-handed average pace Zeeshan Zameeri (5/60), wreaked havoc as they bundled their opponents into sub-section 237.

India lost the opener Angkrish Raghuvansh (0), Shaik Rasheed (6) and skipper Yash Dhull (0) on the cheap, and Zameer was responsible for all the strokes to leave the strike side 14/3.

Nishant Sindhu (8) became the first victim of Awais Ali when India fell 41/4.

Harnoor scored a patient 59-ball 46, hitting six boundaries. When it looked like he would make a big score, Ali abandoned him in the 19th round and left India reading 96/5.

However, wicket-keeper Aaradhya Yadavi’s 83-ball 50, where he hit three quads, combined with Kaushal Tamben 32 and Rajvardhan Hangargekar’s brisk 33 off 20 balls, took India over the 230-run limit.

Chasing 238, Pakistan lost the opening race to Abdul Wahid (0) early when Hangargekar won him. Maaz Sadaqat (29) and Shehzad (81) then collected innings in 64 runs to the second door.

Shehzad, hammering four borders and five rising sixes, was in a warlike mood as Sadaqat played another violin. Left-handed average pace Raj Bawa (4/56) broke the pedestal by removing the Sadaqat.

Bawa struck again by rejecting Haseebullah (3) when Pakistan fell to 69/3. Skipper Qasim Akram (22) also fell cheaply when Pakistan found itself at break point 115/4, although Shehzad continued to disband the opposition attack.

Hangargekar ran from Shehzad in 37th place to bring India back into the race when Pakistan lost half by 159.

However, Irfan Khan (32) and Rizwan Mehmood (29) took the game deep by adding 47 runs to the sixth run.

Bawa then reassigned Pakistan by removing Mehmood and Irfan Khan, but composer Ahmad Khan, who forged three borders and six, completed the task for his team.

Short score: India U-19 237 all out (Aaradhya Yadav 50, Harnoor Singh 46; Zeeshan Zamir 5/60, Awais Ali 2/43) lost to Pakistan U-19 240/8 (Muhammad Shehzad 81, Irfan Khan 32; Raj Bawa 4/56) with two doors.