Report in ESPNcrcifo
Half-centuries from opener Himanshu Rana and No. 3 Shubman Gill provided India Under-19s with a total of 273, which they were able to defend successfully thanks a middle-overs squeeze by their spinners Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Chahar. In the end, hosts Sri Lanka were beaten by 34 runs. At one point though, that result had seemed unlikely. With the momentum of picking up six wickets in the last 11 overs fuelling them, Sri Lanka went after the target with great vigour. Captain Kamindu Mendis and R Kelly struck fifties each to take the score to 158 for 2 in the 31st over. That brought the equation down to 116 off 118 balls with eight wickets in hand.
India needed to re-establish control and their 16-year old captain Abhishek helped with that, dismissing Kelly for 63. He finished with figures of 4 for 37 in 10 overs of left-arm spin and claimed the Man-of-the-Match award. Sri Lanka had to deal with Chahar’s miserly legspin from the other end. With him bowling his full quota, giving away only 22 runs, and picking up three wickets as well, the chase unravelled. Sri Lanka lost three wickets in five overs between the 38th and 43rd, then another three wickets with the score on 225 and were finally bowled out for 239.
It signalled the importance of first-innings runs in Colombo, and India were able to put up enough thanks to Rana’s 71 off 79 balls and Gill’s 70 off 92 balls. While their partnership of 88 for the second wicket was on, it seemed like India would get to a total of 300 or more, but seamer Nipun Ransika, who took two wickets in the 47th over, and left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama, who dismissed both the half-centurions, ensured that did not happen. Sri Lanka would later realise that the damage had already been done.
In reply to India’s 273 for 8 Sri Lanka were all out for 239 runs in 48.4 overs. The Sri Lankan youth were well on course for victory at many stages of the match but lost their way after losing wickets at regular intervals. Opener Raven Kelly top scored with 62 facing 101 deliveries with five fours and a six and skipper Kamindu Mendis also batted well to score 53 facing 57 deliveries with four boundaries.
Abhishek Sharma took 4 for 37 and Rahul Chahar was the second best taking 3 for 22 which included a spectacular catch off his own bowling to dismiss Arachchige which probably changed the course of the game.
India Under 19 top order flourished for a while with two half centuries by Shubman Gill (70) who faced 92 deliveries and struck four fours and and another 71 byHimanshi Rana who faced 79 balls and hit six fours and a six with useful contributions coming from the bats of Abhishek Sharma and Salman Khan to take India towards a challenging score of 273 for 8 in their 50 overs. India would have been aiming towards the 300 run mark but from 224 for 4 in the 44th over they lost one of their prolific scorers Shubman Gill for 70 and India were pulled back a bit.
They lost a couple of quick wickets in the quest of looking for quick runs . But opening bowler Kamlesh Nagarkoti gave the Indian tail a good twist with a well hit 23 to see India reaching their final total of 273 in the 50 overs. Nipun Rashmika was the most successful bowler taking three wickets while Praveen Jayawardene was the pick of the spinners with three wickets.
| India Under-19s innings (50 overs maximum) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
PP Shaw | c Boyagoda b Jayawickrama | 39 | 36 | 6 | 0 | 108.33 |
|
HJ Rana | b Jayawickrama | 71 | 79 | 6 | 1 | 89.87 |
|
Shubman Gill | c Bandara b Jayawickrama | 70 | 92 | 4 | 0 | 76.08 |
|
Abhishek Sharma* | c Boyagoda b Ransika | 29 | 44 | 2 | 1 | 65.90 |
|
SF Khan | c Mendis b Ransika | 26 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 123.80 |
|
PK Garg | b Ransika | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 83.33 |
|
HJ Patel† | run out (Mendis) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Shiva Singh | not out | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 85.71 | |
|
KL Nagarkoti | c Weerasingha b Rashmika | 23 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 164.28 |
| RD Chahar | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| Extras | (lb 1, w 3) | 4 | |||||
| Total | (8 wickets; 50 overs) | 273 | (5.46 runs per over) | ||||
Did not batYS Thakur
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
T Rashmika | 8 | 1 | 48 | 1 | 6.00 | |
|
WAN Ransika | 7 | 0 | 50 | 3 | 7.14 | |
| JKC Daniel | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 7.00 | (1w) | |
|
P Jayawickrama | 10 | 0 | 53 | 3 | 5.30 | |
| HB Weerasingha | 10 | 0 | 47 | 0 | 4.70 | ||
| H Boyagoda | 7 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 4.14 | (2w) | |
| PHKD Mendis | 4 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 4.25 |
| Sri Lanka Under-19s innings (target: 274 runs from 50 overs) | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
R Kelly | c Nagarkoti b Abhishek Sharma | 62 | 101 | 5 | 1 | 61.38 |
|
V Chathuranga† | c Shubman Gill b Thakur | 13 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 108.33 |
|
H Boyagoda | c Garg b Abhishek Sharma | 37 | 38 | 5 | 1 | 97.36 |
|
PHKD Mendis* | c Rana b Abhishek Sharma | 53 | 57 | 4 | 0 | 92.98 |
|
KSW Arachchige | c & b Chahar | 14 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 56.00 |
|
KNA Bandara | run out (Shiva Singh) | 2 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 15.38 |
|
JKC Daniel | c Shaw b Chahar | 15 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
|
HB Weerasingha | c Shiva Singh b Abhishek Sharma | 7 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 63.63 |
| T Rashmika | not out | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 77.77 | |
|
WAN Ransika | st †Patel b Chahar | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
|
P Jayawickrama | run out (Thakur) | 6 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 54.54 |
| Extras | (b 7, lb 5, w 9, nb 2) | 23 | |||||
| Total | (all out; 48.4 overs) | 239 | (4.91 runs per over) | ||||
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KL Nagarkoti | 8 | 0 | 54 | 0 | 6.75 | (3w) | |
|
YS Thakur | 6.4 | 0 | 52 | 1 | 7.80 | (1nb, 2w) |
| Shiva Singh | 10 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 3.50 | (1w) | |
|
RD Chahar | 10 | 0 | 22 | 3 | 2.20 | (1nb) |
| PK Garg | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10.00 | ||
|
Abhishek Sharma | 10 | 1 | 37 | 4 | 3.70 | (3w) |
| Shubman Gill | 3 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 5.66 |
Match details
Series – India Under-19s won the 2016/17 Asian Cricket Council Under-19s Asia Cup
Player of the match – Abhishek Sharma (India Under-19s)
Player of the series – HJ Rana (India Under-19s)
TV umpire – RSA Palliyaguruge
Match referee – N Devarajan
Reserve umpire – Ahmed Shah Pakteen (Afghanistan)