Bangladesh, India Enter the Semi Finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup

Bangladesh and India progressed through to the Semi-Finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016 being played in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh U19s defeat Nepal U19s by 6 wickets

In the first Quarter Final of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup hosts Bangladesh faced off with Nepal, a team that had defeated New Zealand and Ireland in the group stages. Nepal won the toss and decided to bat first and they were jolted early to be 19-2 before their captain Raju Rijul took centre-stage. He played a fluent innings of 72 off just 80 deliveries and strung important partnerships with opener Sunil Dhamala (25) and 3 down Aarif Sheikh (21). But other than Raju, no other batsman could carry on to make a sizeable contribution. They also suffered due to poor running between the wickets loosing 4 wickets to needless run-outs. Nepal finished on 211-9 in their 50 overs.

Bangladesh lost opener Saif Hasan early to Dhamala and then lost three quick wickets of Pinak Ghosh, Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Joyraz Sheik between the 20th and the 28th overs to leave them in a bit of strife at 98-4 and still requiring over a hundred runs to win the tie. Wicket-keeper Zakir Hasan joined Captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz and the two first stopped the bleeding by running the singles hard and eased the pressure slowly by occasionally finding the boundary. The two displayed a mature and calm mind to steer the chase easily as both of them completed well deserved fifties. Zakir remained unbeaten on 75 off 77 deliveries while Mehedi made 55* off 65 balls. Captain fantastico Mehedi Hasan Miraz won the Man of the Match award for his excellent performance with both bat and the ball.

India U19s defeat Namibia U19s by 197 runs

Indian captain Ishan Kishan won the toss and elected to bat first. He did not enjoy a long stay in the middle though and was dismissed for just 6 in the 3rd over. But Rishabh Pant who had made the fastest U19 50 in the last match against Nepal carried on from where he had left and first shared a huge 100 run partnership with Anmolpreet Singh (41) and then another 50 run partnership with Sarfaraz Khan before being dismissed for a peppy 111 off just 96 balls. Namibia failed to apply any kind of pressure on the Indian line up as Sarfaraz (76 off 76 balls), Armaan Jaffer (64 off 55 balls) and Mahipal Lomror (41 off 21 balls) all made significant contributions right till the end to help India post a mammoth 349-6 in their 50 overs.

Namibia started the chase reasonably well with the openers, Eaton and Davin putting on 59 in the 10th over but the wicket of Davin opened the floodgates and Namibia continued to lose wickets in a heap. Mayank Dagar and Anmolpreet Singh were the pick of the Indian bowlers picking up 3 wickets each. Namibia were bowled out for a meagre 152 runs thus handing India a humongous win by 197 runs and paving their way through to the Semi Final stage of the ICC U19 World Cup.

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.

Sri lanka, Pakistan Enter the Quarter Finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup

Pakistan and Sri Lanka from Group B cruised through to the Quarter-Finals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup being played in Bangladesh.

Pakistan U19s defeat Canada U19s by 7 wickets

Canada won the toss and elected to bat first and they had a steady, if not a spectacular start. Their opener Bhavindu Adhihetty added 60 for the second wicket with Amish Taploo and then had a stand of 49 with his skipper Abraash Khan. Things were looking bright for Canada as they were 139-5 in the 39th over but their lower middle order could not keep up and crashed to give two run-outs to the Pakistan side. They were all out in the 49th over for just 178. Left arm spinner Hasan Khan claimed 3 for 36 in his 10 overs while leg break bowler Shadab Khan snaffled two for 44 off his 10.

In reply to Canada's 178, Pakistan started off well with an opening partnership of 51 between Openers Zeeshan Malik and Gauhar Hafeez. Zen had another huge partnership of 108 runs with Saif Badar for the third wicket. Zeeshan remained unbeaten scoring a valuable match winning innings of 89 off 122 balls which included nine boundaries and a six. The win propelled Pakistan to the Quarter Finals after they had also won their opening game against Afghanistan.

Sri Lanka U19s defeat Afghanistan U19s by 33 runs

Sri Lanka U19 faced Afghanistan U19 at Sylhet and their captain Charith Asalanka won the toss and decided to bat first. The Sri Lankan openers provided a steady start and looked to be set before losing their way to go from 48-0 in the ninth over to 96-5 in the twenty seventh. Sri Lanka was given a close shave by the Afghans at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 held in Australia and their U19 team was repeating the dose. But the Lankan skipper, who has been in Fantastico form lately, had other ideas. He batted superbly to score a fighting 71 off 91 balls with 8 boundaries and a six. Sri Lanka again lost their way towards the end to finish with a below par 184 all out in the 48th over. For Afghanistan, off spinner Shamsurrahman picked up 3 wickets in his 10 overs while giving away only 18 runs in the process.

Afghanistan were well placed at 51-1 in the 15th over but like Sri Lanka they lost their way to slump to 91-6 in the 31st over. Lower order batsman Waheedullah Shafaq cracked a run a ball 47 but it was too little too late. Afghanistan were bowled out for 151 in the 45th over. Charith Asalanka chipped in with two wickets in his six overs while Kamindu Mendis picked up three thus making sure that the Sri Lankans booked their ticket to the Quarter Finals of the world event.

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.