Bangladesh made a winning start to their campaign by defeating South Africa by 43 runs on the opening day of the ICC U19 World Cup. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first on a track that was expected to take turn later on. They rode of a couple of 40's from Pinak Ghosh and Joyraz Shiek while Nazmul Hossain Shanto top scored with 73 off 82 balls and who provided the finishing touches. South African seamer Wiaan Mulder was the pick of the Protea bowler who picked up 3 crucial wickets while giving away only 42 runs in his 9 overs.
South Africa had a disastrous start as they slumped to 60-4 struggling against the spin overdose that the Bangla captain fed them with. Only opener Liam Smith batted with some confidence but he was too slow at the start as South Africa continued losing wickets. Bangla fast bowler Mohammad Saifuddin picked up three wickets while their spinners all strangled South Africa going at less than 4 runs per over. Bangla captain and off break bowler, Mehedi Hasan Miraz was the pick of the Bangladeshi bowling as he picked up 3 wickets in his 9.4 overs. Other Bangladeshi spinners, off break bowler Saeed Sarkar picked up two while slow left arm Saleh Ahmed Shawon picked up two as well. All their spinners went at a run rate of less than 4. The impact that the Bangla spinners had on the South African batting was immeasurable and secured for Bangladesh a famous victory.
On the second day of the ICC U19 World Cup, a peppy Nepal team stunned New Zealand by defeating them at Fatullah by 32 runs. New Zealand won the toss and elected to field first. All the Nepal batsmen made made starts but none of them could carry on to make a big score. Middle order bat Raju Rijul made the highest score of 48. Nepal were propelled towards a relative good score of 238 by an impactful innings by Kushal Bhurtal who smashed a 35 off just 23 balls towards the end of the innings. For the Kiwis Nathan Smith took 3 wickets.
New Zealand team lost regular wickets as medium pace bowler Dipendra Singh Airee snaffled 3 wickets in only 5 overs and off break bowler Prem Tamang took out 2 while giving away just 38 runs in his 10 overs. New Zealand also suffered three run outs which probably proved the most crucial in the final analysis. For them, opener Glenn Phillips top scored with 52 off 68 balls. Dale Phillips made a valiant 41 down the order but could not save New Zealand as they collapsed to 206 all out.
All in all it has been already been Fantastico two days at the ICC Under 19 World Cup which has seen two supposedly weaker teams going on to defeat much stronger nations and I hope to see more in the days to come.
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
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