India steamroll Sri Lanka to win 8th U-19 Asia Cup
DUBAI: India reaffirmed their supremacy in the U-19 Asia Cup with a record eighth title as they hammered Sri Lanka by nine wickets in a rain-hit summit showdown here on Friday.
The Indian bowlers were all over Sri Lanka, who were gasping at 74/7 in 33 overs when heavy rain lashed the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and stopped play for more than two hours.
It became a 38-over-a-side contest when play resumed with Sri Lanka limping to 106/9. India were set a revised 102-run target in 38 overs via DLS method which they reached rather comfortably in 21.3 overs with opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi scoring an unbeaten 56 off 67 balls.
India’s only loss in the competition came against arch-rivals Pakistan, who lost to Sri Lanka in the semi-finals.
The tournament provided valuable game time for the Yash Dhull-led side ahead of the U-19 World Cup, beginning in the West Indies from January 14.
After tournament’s leading scorer Harnoor Singh departed cheaply, Raghuvanshi played sensibly alongside Shaik Rasheed (31 not out off 49) to get the job done.
Earlier, the Indian pace duo of Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Ravi Kumar made the ball talk though the former was a tad unlucky to not get a wicket.
Left-arm pacer Ravi got the first wicket by removing Chamindu Wickramasinghe in the fourth over. Fellow opener Shevon Daniel tried to pull Bawa but the ball got big on him, taking a faint edge to wicketkeeper Aaradhya Yadav to leave Sri Lanka at 15/2.
Hangargekar was the most impressive pacer in the first 10 overs, generating good pace that hurried the batters besides extracting movement off the pitch. Sri Lanka batters looked at sea against Indian bowlers, be it pacers or the spin pairing of Kaushal Tambe (2/23) and Vicky Ostwal (3/11). Both off-spinner Tambe and left-armer Ostwal got the odd ball to turn sharply.
Ostwal got two in one to leave Sri Lanka in dire straits at 57/7. With India set to bowl out Sri Lanka for a sub-100 total, heavy rain stopped play.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 106/9 in 38 overs (V Ostwal 3/11, K Tambe 2/23) lost to 104/1 in 21.3 overs (A Raghuvanshi 56*) by 9 wickets (via DLS).