The two Under-19 matches in the league stage of the Asia Cup yesterday were nail biters and displayed so much talent and skill level which our future stars showcased in all three departments with Sri Lanka pulling a rabbit out of the hat to outplaying Bangladesh to topping the table in the death group in Dubai whilst Nepal stunning favourites Afghanistan to win a dead rubber.
Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka top order was huffing and puffing with three batters back in the pavilion for just 36 runs in the valuable power play overs.
Looking down the barrel with imminent defeat staring at the Sri Lankans, Royalist Vinath Dissara came up with a breathtaking never give up century performance scoring 106 runs to winning the against the odds battle against a disciplined Tiger bowling attack supported by excellent ground fielding and out of the box catching that was great to watch.
Credit must be given to middle order batter Lakith Abeysinghe for his valuable support of 21 runs and skipper Vihas Thewnika, the lower order batter for his contribution of 22 which helped Sri Lanka reach a par score of 228 that seemed an easy task for the Bangladesh strong batting line up.
Vinath Disara was a class exponent holding the Sri Lankan batting in securing his century whilst the top order simply threw their wickets aiming at a score of 250 runs. The Bangladesh fielding and catching was world class , whilst Disara the Sri Lankan batter carried the responsibility in planning and playing sensible cricket despite the pressure built around him.
Bangladesh openers in the power play overs thumped 56 runs for no wickets, and by the 13th, over were 72 for 1 wicket. Hence, the indication of a walk in the park was the conclusion by the experts in the com box.
Things took a “U” turn much to the distress of the Bangladesh dressing room as Sri Lankan ground fielding created the much needed breakthrough with the aid of 3 run outs backed by disciplined bowling by the spin cordon in the middle overs that ultimately pegged the Bangladesh batters to be bowled out for 221 runs. The fighting knock of 95 by Kalam Siddiq could not get them over the line against a concerted Lankan display.
The very talented Bangladesh youngsters pressed the panic button by losing wickets mainly due to bad shot selection.
They certainly looked the better team. However, the bitter lesson they learnt of being overconfident should serve as a timely warning because purely and mathermaticaly they will be up against Pakistan in the Semi finals.
Pakistan will end up as table leaders since they play minows Japan today whilst Bangladesh end up as the team on slot 2 which means Pakistan will play Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka either India or the UAE depending on the result of the game between those two sides..
It is fair to state that Sri Lanka would prefer to play UAE in the semi-finals because the cricketing fraternity knows what indepth the Indian players have in their armoury.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, tasted shell shock pill by losing to Nepal, and this win by the minnows should do them a world of good.