Zafeer Aaryan Reza, Sports Writer :
On the 8th of September 2019, a high flying Young Tigers side were due to play Nepal. A cracking encounter would ensure.
It was a bright sunny day at the PSS Oval in Colombo. Bangladesh U19 Captain Akbar Ali won the toss and seeing how this decision had paid off in the previous match, he decided to field first. The pitch seemed to favour the batsman and runs were there to be scored.
A prominent change to the Bangladesh side was that Parvez Hossain Emon was sitting out and in his place was Anik Akhter Shatu and Shoriful also sitting out for Shahin Alam.
Nepal was certainly a stronger side than their previous opponents, UAE and their batting lineup certainly looked formidable. Nepal's openers had a slow and steady start.
The first wicket fell at the end of the 14th over and it was that of opener Rit Gautam departing with 32 off 53. After the fall of this wicket the bowlers put the pressure on the batsman and soon another wicket fell at the end of the 17th over and it was that of Asif Sheikh who left with a score of 3 off 13.
Afterwards for around 10 overs, opener Pawan Sarraf and Kushal Mulla batted cautiously while slowing putting runs on the board. Then this partnership was broken on the penultimate ball of the 27th over with Kushal leaving the crease with 28 off 33.
After the fall of this wicket for around 11 overs another partnership of 66 runs was formed between no.5 Rohit Paudel and Sarraf. This pushed the Nepal total over 150 and at the point it was broken the score was 159 and it was in the 38th over.
The run rate was steady and hovering a bit over 4 for the entirety of the Nepal Innings. The 4th wicket to fall was that of Captain Rohit Paudel leaving for a measly 14 off 26. The next wicket fell in the 41st over and it was that of opener Pawan Sarraf leaving for a hard fought 81 off 101. It was a very good knock and it helped keep the team stable and kept Nepal in the game. After the fall of Sarraf.
Nepal accelerated and put up runs at a much quicker rate courtesy of Sundeep Jora and Bhim Sharki scoring 56 and 21 respectively. After they both fell, a small cameo from KS Airee helped push the Nepal total to a very respectable 261.
Nepal had made use of the death overs very well racking up an impressive 88 off the last 10 overs.
It was a good bowling display from the Bangladesh side with Tanzim Hassan Sakib and Shahin Alam grabbing two wickets apiece. Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Rakibul Hasan, Towhid Hridoy and Minhazur Rahman all also among the wickets with each of them getting one wicket. The death overs proved to be costly and ruined what would have been another economical bowling display from the young tigers.
It was a rocky start for the Bangladesh openers with Tanzid Hasan returning to the pavilion in the 4th over for a cheap 9 off 13 and another wicket quickly fell and it was that of Anik being dismissed for a cheap 5 off 12. Bangladesh were in a spot of bother with 19/2 at the end of the 5th over.
Then started the rebuilding led by “Mr.Dependable” Mahmudul Hasan Joy and no.4 Towhid Hridoy. They batted slowly and put the runs on the board at a steady pace. The 3rd wicket fell and it was that of Joy departing with a slow 40 off 56. Bangladesh were in deep trouble at this point with 98/3 at the end of the 24th over.
The required run rate slowly climbing. Out to bat came Captain Fantastic Akbar Ali. He had to play a captains knock to pull Bangladesh out of trouble and he did not disappoint. On the other end the set Towhid Hridoy was putting the runs on the board reaching a well batted 60. Bangladesh seemed to have set themselves up for victory with 2 set batsmen at the crease in the form of Hridoy and Akbar.
However Nepal pulled back into the game with the wicket of Towhid Hridoy in the 33rd over. With the score at 132 in the 33rd over with the required run rate almost at 9. Akbar Ali really needed to play a captain knock to win the match for the young tigers. His partner at the other end, Shamim Hossain was also a handy batsman. With them steadily putting runs on the board the almost impossible feat had been achieved.
Bangladesh won the match with 4 balls to spare in the 50th over. With the captain Akbar Ali really leading from the front with an unbeaten 98 off 82. Showing a level of maturity way beyond his years.
The Nepal bowling lineup like the Bangladesh one performed very well for the first 40 overs but slipped in the death overs. KS Airee getting 2 scalps with Rashid Khan and Hari Chauhan getting one each. Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Towhid Hridoy helped rebuild the innings after 2 early wickets and Akbar Ali played a fantastic 98 off 82 to finish the innings off with the support of Shamim Hossain who scored 42 off 45.
The man of the match was awarded to Captain Akbar Ali for his captains knock which helped Bangladesh win the match. His maturity shown as both a captain and batsman was beyond his years and the high flying Young Tigers seemed to have improved even more from their previous performance.
NEPAL UNDER-19S: 261/8(50 OVERS)
Pawan Sarraf 81 (109)
Sundeep Jora 56 (37)
Tanzim Hasan Sakib 2/51(9)
Shahin Alam 2/58(9)
BANGLADESH UNDER-19S: 262/4(49.2 OVERS)
Akbar Ali *98 (82)
Towhid Hridoy 60 (88)
Kamal Singh 2/59(8)
Hari Chauhan 1/17(4)
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