The beginning of a road of glory for the young tigers: Throw back to the Asia Cup 2019

Zafeer Aaryan Reza, Sports Writer :

In this tough period of time in which there is an ongoing pandemic. We can only look back on the fond memories made. One of these memorable moments from just a year ago was the start of the U-19 Asia Cup 2019. 

It was the start of the road for the young Tigers which led to World Cup Glory just 5 months after. We look back to the tournament to see the progress of the young tigers and their dominance which eventually led to them being world champions.

It was a gloomy day in Katunayake, Sri Lanka. It was the first match of Group B in the ACC U19 Asia Cup 2019 at the Chilaw Marians Cricket Club Ground, FTZ Sports Complex. Bangladesh had come off a successful Tri series in England which sadly ended in heartbreak for the young Tigers with a narrow loss to India in the final. There was a hunger to win in the Bangladesh team and it had shown in their positive results before the tournament. Bangladesh came into the tournament as favourites alongside giants India. 

Bangladesh opted to field a balanced XI they have regularly played even in previous tours. The captain Akbar Ali won the toss and decided to field first as rain looked very much on the cards and fielding first would prove more sensible. Tanzim Hasan Sakib struck early in the very first over and Shoriful struck in the successive over. UAE were put under immense pressure. 

There was a small partnership of 19 runs before that also got broken. In the space of 2 overs and 2 runs, 3 wickets were lost. The bowlers had sent half the UAE team packing before the batting powerplay had even ended. Then came the biggest partnership for UAE between no.5 Alishan Sharafu and no.7 Osama Hassan. This stabilized the ship for a bit and it looked like UAE would claw themselves back into the game. 

However,after the fall of Sharafu in the 23rd over and Osama in the 26th over,it didn’t take very long for the strong Bangladesh attack to finish the job. UAEs top scorers were Osama Hassan with 58 and Alishan Sharafu with 34. The young tigers bowling attack again did not fail to impress. Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Rokibul Hasan getting 3 wickets a piece with Shariful bagging a brace of wickets and Mrittunjoy Chowdhury getting one wicket. 

The young tigers tight fielding and excellent bowing display restricted UAE to a measly 127 within 28 overs. In these conditions and considering Bangladeshs strong batting lineup containing stars like Mahmudul Hasan Joy,Parvez Hossain Emon and Tanzid Hasan making up the top 3 chasing this target would not be of much difficulty.

The downfall of rain did not hamper the chase at the slightest as the target remained the same with the overs being reduced to 45 overs. The Young Tigers started very well with their opening stand racking up the runs at a fast rate. The first wicket fell by the time Bangladesh had already chased half of the target and it was that of Tanzid Hasan. Tanzid departed with the highest score of the Bangladesh innings with 40 off of 27. 

Then came to the crease Bangladesh U19s very own “Mr. Dependable” Mahmudul Hasan Joy. By the time the 2nd wicket of Parvez Hossain Emon getting out on 30 had fallen, ¾ of the target had been chased already of Parvez Hossain Emon getting out on 30. 

After that it was easy cruising from Joy and the new man at the crease Towfiq Hossain Hridoy. The 3rd  wicket partnership pushed the total towards the target even more. After the fall of Hridoy, there came the only period of play in the Bangladesh innings in which UAE had some dominance, this lasted for the 20th over, both Hridoy and his subsequent batsman Shahadat fell within the 20th over. 

Then came out the Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali. He came in with 10 runs to win and a set Joy at the crease. The batsmen took it slow afterwards and eventually wrapped it up by the middle of the 22nd over. 

It was overall a good bowling and fielding performance by the Young Tigers which was capped off by a good batting display in which Bangladesh cruised to victory with ease. The man of the match award was awarded to Tanzid Hasan for his stellar batting display which helped ease the chase. 

Overall it was a strong start to a successful tournament for the young tigers who seemed to have portrayed all the attributes of a champion side. It seemed to be a sign of things to come from the young tigers.

The scorecard as it stood was:

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNDER-19S: 127(28.0 OVERS)

Osama Hassan 58 (65), Alishan Sharafu3 4 (39), Rakibul Hasan3/25(7), Tanzim Hasan Sakib3/36(7)

BANGLADESH UNDER-19S: 128/4(21.3 OVERS)

Tanzid Hasan45 (27), Parvez Hossain Emon30 (33), Rishabh Mukherjee2/27(3.3), Sanchit Sharma1/18(6)