India under 19 defeated Bangladesh by two runs during their semifinal match and reached the final of the ACC under-19 Asia Cup at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla national stadium on Thursday.
At one stage Bangladesh needed only 12 runs from 48 deliveries with three wickets in hand but they managed to score just 10 runs losing all three wickets and succumbing to yet another narrow defeat in an international tournament.
Bangladesh made a shaky start as opener Sajjad Hossian (2) got out when 7 runs were in the scoreboard. The Indian bowlers kept the pressure and took four more wickets within 20 overs as at one stage Bangladesh were 65 for 5 in 19.3 overs.
But later, Shamim Hossain and wicketkeeper-batsman Akbar Ali formed a brilliant 74-run partnership for the sixth wicket to steady the chase for Bangladesh.
But India were right back in the game when they took the wicket of Akbar Ali in 36th over. Akbar scored 45 off 63 balls with three fours and one six.
India took more control as they took the vital wicket of Shamim Hossian in the 43rd over. Shamim scored 59 off 81 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Bangladesh lost two quick wickets and at one stage 12 were needed while India needed one more wicket to win. The last wicket pair Rakibul Hasan and Minhazur Rahman scored 9 runs but fell agonizingly short as Minhazur was run-out due to a mix-up and eventually India won the match by 2 runs.
Earlier, Indian captain Simran Singh won the toss and elected to bat first.
Bangladesh made an early breakthrough as Shoriful Islam took the wicket of opener Devdutt Padikkal (1) in the third over.
Other opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Anuj Rawat built a 66-run partnership for the third wicket. Bangladesh captain Towhid Ridoy broke the partnership in the 21st over as Rawat went back to the pavilion after scoring 35 off 64 balls.
Bangladesh then took three more wickets within four overs to build pressure on Indian batting line-up. India were reduced to 77 for five in the 25th over. Sammer Chowdhury then scored a useful 38 run innings as eventually India were all out for 172 runs in 49.3 overs.
Pacer Shoriful picked three wickets for Bangladesh while Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Rishad Hossaon and Towhid Ridoy took two wickets each.
The second semi-final will be held between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in Mirpur on Friday.
BRIEF SCORE:
India U19 172 (Y Jaiswal 37, S Choudhary 36; S Islam 3-16) beat Bangladesh U19 170 (S Hossain 59; SA Desai 3-35, M Jangra 3-25) by 2 runs
