Courtesy: ACC
Defending champions India didn’t have a great start in the ongoing 2024 U19 Asia Cup as they lost their opening match against arch-rival Pakistan by 44 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Coming to bat after winning the toss, Shahzaib Khan shone with a big hundred as Pakistan posted 281/7 in their 50 overs. In reply, India were bowled out for 238 runs in 47.1 overs.
Batting first, Pakistan got a strong start as Usman Khan and Shahzaib Khan put up an opening partnership of 160 runs in 30.4 overs. Usman got out after scoring 60(94) runs after hitting six boundaries. After the fall of first wicket, none of the other batters could play a big knock apart from Shahzaib Khan who ended up scoring 159 runs in147 balls before being dismissed in the last over, smashing five fours and 10 sixes during his knock. For India, Samarth Nagaraj took three wickets, Ayush Mthatre scalped two, while Kiran Chormale and Yudhajit Guha put one each in their bag.
Mohammed Enaan and Yudhajit Guha fightback for India after they were nine wickets down
Coming to chase the winning total, India got a poor start as they lost four wickets at the score of 81 runs in 20.5 overs. After that, Nikhil Kumar and Kiran Chormale (20 off 30) put up a partnership of 53 runs for the fifth wicket. After Chormale’s dismissal, Kumar added another 40 runs with Harvansh Singh Pangalia who got out after scoring 26(28) runs with four boundaries. Nikhil Kumar was the top scorer for India with 67(77) runs, hitting six fours and three sixes.
After that, India again lost momentum, and were reduced to 190/9 after 40 overs. However, Mohammed Enaan (30 off 22) and Yudhajit Guha (12* off 22) gave a ray of hope with a partnership of 48 runs for the 10th wicket before Enaan got run out on the first ball of the 48th over. For Pakistan, Ali Raza took three wickets, Abdul Shubhan, and Faham-ul-Haq scalped 2-2 wickets each, while Naveed Ahmed Khan and Usman Khan scalped a wicket each.
