Bangladesh reach semifinal beating India by 8 wkts

An unbeaten innings of 81 runs by Pinak Ghosh guided Bangladesh Under-19 Cricket team to the semifinals of the ACC Youth Asia Cup Cricket 2017 as the Group A champions with all-win record beating their giant rivals India by eight wickets in their last group match at the Royal Selangor Club ground in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Bangladesh Youth team will play the first semifinal against Group B runners up Pakistan on Thursday while Group B champions Afghanistan will face Nepal in the other semifinal on Friday.

With the day's debacle, India made an early exist from the meet with one win and two losses beating only hosts Malaysia by 202 runs in the first match while Nepal made a semifinal berth with two wins and one loss beating Malaysia by 8 wickets on Tuesday after beating India by 19 runs.

Mohammad Saif Hassan-led Young Tigers made a good start after beating Nepal by two wickets under DLS method at Kinrara Oval on Saturday and brightened their chance to reach semifinal crushing hosts Malaysia by massive 262 runs in their 2nd match at Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

Sent in to bat first in the day's match, India scored 187 for 8 in a curtailed 32-over-a-side match due to rain with number seven batsman Salman Khan contributing unconquered 39 runs off 38 balls, hitting two fours.

Besides, one down Anuj Rawat (34), Harvik Desai (21), Riyan Parag (19) and Himmanshu Rana (15) were the other notable scorers for India reaching double figures.

Robiul Haque grabbed three wickets for 43 runs while Afif Hossain and Nayeem Hassan took two wickets each conceding 38 runs reach.

In reply, Bangladesh easily reached their target scoring 191 runs for the loss of only two wickets in 28 overs featuring 83 runs in the 3rd wicket partnership by opener Pinak Ghosh and two down Towhid Hridoy.

Bangladesh made a good start in the match scoring 82 runs in 13.1 overs in the opening stand by Naim Sheikh and Pinak Ghosh and later Pinak Ghosh again pairing with captain Saif Hassan added 26 runs in the 2nd wicket stand when the scoreboard was showing 108 runs for 2 in 17.5 overs.

After the dismissal of opener Naim Sheikh (38) and one down Saif Hassan (16), opener Pinak Ghosh partnering with number four and last match centurion Tohwhid Hridoy guided the team towards the victory contributing unbeaten 83 runs in the 3rd wicket stand.

Pinak Ghosh hammered unconquered 81 runs off 76 balls featuring six fours and three sixes while Towhid Hridoy contributed not out 48 runs off just 33 balls with two fours and four sixes.

Mandeep Singh claimed both the Bangladesh wickets conceding 36 runs.

Source: ntvbd