Zafar Aaryan Reza, Sports Writer:
On a hot day, the Young Tigers were due to face their greatest challenge yet in the Asia Cup. They were to play the hosts Sri Lanka. What would ensue would be a cracking encounter and a special display of batting by a very special player.
In contrast to the previous two matches, Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali chose to bat first. This was due to the fact that the pitch was clearly one which would favour the batsman. The strategy seemed simple enough. Score as much as possible and then bowl well enough to defend this high target.
Parvez Hossain Emon came back into the team. Fiery Speedster Shoriful Hasan also came back to the lineup. Another change was the addition of bowler Ashraful Islam to the lineup.
To everyones surprise, Sri Lankan head coach of BDU19 Naveed Nawaz decided to shuffle the batting lineup a bit. Bangladesh had already secured their way to the semi finals, so experimentation would not be much of a problem. “Mr.Dependable” Mahmudul Hasan Joy who normally bats at no.3 was promoted to open the innings alongside Tanzid Hasan.
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| Joy's Sweep |
The Young Tigers got off to a slow start, as they did in the previous match vs Nepal. The opening duo of Joy and Tanzid were batting calmly and slowly ticking the scoreboard. The first wicket fell in the 8th over. It was that of Tanzid Hasan. Out came to bat at no.3, Parvez Hossain Emon. A small partnership of 26 formed however that was broken at the end of the 13th over.
Then came the longest and most impactful partnership of the match. This was between Joy and Towhid Hridoy. It lasted for more than half of the 50 overs. Towhid reached a very well-crafted 50, while Joy also reached 50 during this time. This partnership was broken unfortunately with Hridoy departing for 50 but Joy did not seem to show any signs of slowing down at all. Joy was at 87 when Hridoy departed and the death overs were fast approaching. Out came Shamim Hossain, who had proven to also be a handy batsman. He scored some quick runs as Joy pushed on and on towards triple figures. Bangladesh had a comparatively slow start to the last overs and with Joy at 97. Shamim fell after a cameo of 21 off 17. Mere 2 balls later, Joy pushed the ball over the boundary for 4 to reach triple figures.
After reaching his 100, he accelerated and both his and the whole teams striking rate surged. Joy eventually fell in the 47th over, departing for a very well-played 126 off 140. The middle order batsmen after him all accelerated to increase the Bangladesh total. Eventually the total ended up at 273/7. Joy the highest run getter, with Hridoy being second to him with 50. The hosts bowling lineup were subpar with Dilshan Madushanka ending up being the most prolific with 3 wickets for 54 off of his 10 overs. Ashian Daniel grabbed 2 for 39 off 9 overs. Nadeeshan and Paranavithana grabbed 1 each.
The chase would certainly be a hard one for the Sri Lankan youngsters. They started steady, however their first wicket fell early courtesy of Shoriful forcing Paranavithana to edge one to captain Akbar Ali. After the first wicket, Sri Lanka were slightly able to rebuild with a small partnership between Mishara and Rathana for a bit more than 10 overs.
That partnership also got broken with opener Mishara being clean bowled by Rakibul Hasan. The 3rd wicket stand was also short lived and lasted 4 overs. This time it was Rasantha who got dismissed by surprise addition Ashraful. The 4th wicket stand was a bit more long-lived and it was between no.4 Wackaramasinghe and Captain Perera.
The former being dismissed broke the 53 run stand. The 5th wicket stand again was short lived and only lasted 19 runs. This was broken with the dismissal of Perera. After that, the hosts batting lineup seemed to start to crumble with them losing 5 wickets in the space of 6 overs and 32 runs. The only piece of resistance was the 10th wicket stand between Sanjaya who top scored in the innings with 42 and no.11 Madushanka. Their resistance was also broken in the 47th over with Mrittunjoy Chowdhury dismissing Sanjaya. Sri Lanka were all out for 231 with 14 balls left in the innings.
It was another splendid bowling performance by three young tigers with all 5 of their bowlers used being amongst the wickets. The best figures were that of Rakibul with 3/49 off his 10 overs. Shoriful and Ashraful each gettibg 2 wickets. Shamim and Mrittunjoy also getting 1 each.
The Sri Lankan batsman never got the chance to build up a proper partnership. Their highest scorer was Sanjaya with 42. Captain ND Perera scored 36 and Wickramasinghe scored 33. It was a subpar performance from the Sri Lankan team both with the bat and the ball.
The man of the match was an obvious choice, it was awarded to Bangladeshs “Mr.Dependable” Mahmudul Hasan Joy for his blistering knock of 126 off 140. In a later interview Joy mentioned it as “one of the best knocks he had ever played” in his short cricketing career. Yet another Young Tiger showed tenacity and maturity way beyond their years. Joy’s true potential was starting to shine through.
Bangladesh won by 32 runs against a strong Sri Lanka side. As the matches went on, this U19 Bangladesh squad seemed to be improving even further and kept on showing even more attributes of a top Champion side. They were truly building up on their mistakes and improving every aspect of their game, be it batting, fielding or bowling.
SCORECARD SUMMARY:
BANGLADESH UNDER-19S: 273/7(50 OVERS)
Mahmudul Hasan Joy 126 (140)
Towhid Hridoy 50 (75)
Dilshan Madushanka 3/54(10)
Ashian Daniel 2/39(9)
SRI LANKA UNDER-19S 231(47.4 OVERS)
Rohan Sanjaya 42 (36)
Nipun Dananjaya 36 (45)
Rakibul Hasan 3/49(10)
Ashraful Islam 2/47(10)
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