Asia Cup u -19: India beat Pakistan to lift Asia Cup

The India u-19 team beat Pakistan u-19 team by 40 runs to lift the u-19 Asia Cup at Sharjah. Batting first India posted a massive total of 314/8 thanks to hundreds from both the captain Vijay Zol and the wicket keeper Sanju Samson. In reply, Pakistan could only muster 274/9 in 50 overs.

Chasing a stiff target of 315 from 50 overs, Pakistan needed a good start but they lost their first wicket for 39 runs. Sami Aslam, the captain, waged a lone battle as scored 87 runs from 96 balls to keep the Pakistani hopes alive. He received able support from Kamran Ghulam and the pair added 97-runs for the 6th wicket.

However, just when the match was slipping away from India’s grasp, the partnership was broken by Aamir Gani. The captain Sami Aslam was dismissed 87. Kamran Ghulam took on the chase from there on but ran out of partners and remained unbeaten on 102 of 89 balls.

For India, Kuldeep Yadav was expensive but picked up 3 wickets. Chama Milind , Deepak Hooda and Aamir Gani picked up 2 wickets a piece.

Earlier, the Pakistan U-19 team won the toss and elected to field first. The Indian team got off to a quick start as they scored 65 runs in just over 6 overs until Akhil Herwadkar was dismissed by Zia-Ul-Haq by 12. The other opener, Ankush Bains was the next to fall for 47.

That brought Vijay Zol and Sanju Samson together and the young pair stringed together a 180-run partnership to pile up the misery for the Pakistan team. Both of them looked in supreme touch and flayed the bowling to all parts of the ground and reached their respective 100s.

The skipper, Zol scored his 100 off 120 balls while Samson took on a more aggressive role and slammed his 100 of just 87 balls. His innings was studded with 8 fours and 4 sixes.

India were looking good for a total of 350 plus but Pakistan struck back and India lost 4 wickets for just  25 runs and ended up with a final score of 314.

For Pakistan, Zia-Ul-Haq and Kamran Ghulam were the most impressive bowlers as the former picked up 2 wickets at an economy rate of 5.60 and the latter picked up 1 wicket at an economy rate of 4.60.