Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Shubman Gill produced a sublime innings of 86 as three-time champions India scored an impressive 131 runs victory over Bangladesh to set-up a semi-final clash with arch rivals Pakistan at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand on Friday. The number-three batsman’s 94-ball essay, in which he hit nine fours, helped India score a challenging 265 in the last Super League quarter-final in front of broadcast cameras at the John Davies Oval Ground in Queensland. India were all out in the last over and could not inflate the total as much as they would have liked to, but the score proved to be more than adequate as Bangladesh succumbed for 134 in 42.1 overs under a mounting asking run-rate, courtesy some tight bowling from the India fast bowlers in the early overs.

India’s spinners bowled tight lines and the fielding too was top-class with two direct-hit run outs in what completed a fine all-round effort that the Pakistan team would have observed keenly ahead of their second semifinal at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on 30 January. India captain Prithvi Shaw credited his team for a good all-round effort, when he said: “The fast bowlers and spinners executed our plans very well. It’s really good to pick up wickets in the power-plays. The plan was quite simple with our batting – look for the singles and rotate the strike. We had a good total on the board, so we decided to play with intensity and to remain in the game till the last wicket fell.” Shubman Gill, who was later declared player of the match, said the intensity was more following their recent loss to Bangladesh. “We remembered our loss in the Asia Cup and so were determined to win the match today. As for the Pakistan game, we are looking forward to the match since we did not play them in the Asia Cup. We’re sure it will be a good match.” Bangladesh captain Saif Hassan felt the slow batting early on spoilt their chances, saying: “Our approach was not good. We should have taken some calculated risks early on. After the first 10 overs, the middle-order had to take the risks and collapsed. If we had been positive early on, then it would have been easier for our middle-order.”

Brief scores:

India beat Bangladesh by 131 runs, John Davies Oval, Queenstown: India 265 all out, 49.2 overs (Shubman Gill 86, Abhishek Sharma 50, Prithvi Shaw 40, Harvik Desai 34; Qazi Onik 3-48, Nayeem Hasan 2-36, Saif Hassan 2-41) VS Bangladesh 134 all out, 41.1 overs (Pinak Ghosh 43, Kamlesh Nagarkoti 3-18, Abhishek Sharma 2-11, Shivam Mavi 2-27).

Player of the match: Shubman Gill (India).

Published in Daily Times, January 27^th 2018.