Tournament favourites India U19 take on Sri Lanka U19 in the final match of the ACC U19 Asia Cup 2021 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday, December 31.
Led by Yash Dhull, the Indian U19 cricket team finished second in the group stage after two wins and a loss in three matches. Sri Lanka U19, on the other hand, were marred by the COVID-19 outbreak as their match against Bangladesh U19 was called off. Owing to that, they too finished second in Group B.
India U19 crossed swords with Bangladesh in the semi-final and it was the effort of Shaik Rasheed that took India from 62/3 to 243/8 in 50 overs. The top-order batter scored 90 runs off 108 balls while playing an important 41-run stand with his captain.
Defending 243 was never going to be an easy task, but the Indian bowlers lived upto the potential, with as many as four different bowlers picking two wickets. In fact, none of them finished with an economy of more than five.
As for Sri Lanka, they squared off against a rather tough opponent in Pakistan U19 in the other semi-final. After electing to bat, the Lankan Lions could only score 147 runs with only two players managing to cross the 30-run mark.
With a difficult task at hand, Sri Lanka used eight different bowlers to restrict Pakistan at 125 and thus winning the match by 22 runs.
ACC U19 Asia Cup 2021 final squads
India U19 full squad: Yash Dhull (captain), Harnoor Singh Pannu, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ansh Gosai, S K Rasheed, Anneshwar Gautam, Siddharth Yadav, Kaushal Tambe, Nishant Sindhu, Dinnesh Bana (wicket-keeper), Aaradhya Yadav (wicket-keeper), Rajangad Bawa, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Garv Sangwan, Ravi Kumar, Rishith Reddy, Manav Parakh, Amrit Raj Upadhyay, Vicky Ostwal, Vasu Vats
Sri Lanka U19 full squad: Dunith Wellalage (captain), Shevon Daniel, Anjala Bandara (wicket-keeper), Pawan Pathiraja, Sadisha Rajapaksa, Sadeesh Jayawardena, Wanuja Sahan Kumara, Raveen de Silva, Ranuda Somarathne, Malsha Tharupathi, Abhishek Liyanaarachchi, Traveen Mathew, Yasiru Rodrigo, Matheesha Pathirana, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Vinuja Ranpul, Sakuna Liyange
Where to watch ACC U19 Asia Cup 2021 final live in India?
Live telecast of the ACC U19 Asia Cup 2021 final between India U19 and Sri Lanka U19 will be telecast on Star Sports 1, Star Sports Select 2 and their corresponding HD TV channels in India.
The live streaming of ACC U19 Asia Cup 2021 final can be viewed on the Disney+ Hotstar app and their website.
Featured photo: Unsplash / Ajay Parthasarathy
