The great work being put in by Rahul Dravid to strengthen India's bench strength and nurture the talented youngsters continues, with India U19 retaining the Asia Cup title after an impressive win over the hosts Sri Lanka on Friday.
Dravid has had a big influence on the India 'A' team and the youth teams and the batting legend was at the helm as the U19 side eased to victory over Sri Lanka U19.
Choosing to bat first after winning the toss at the famous Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, India got off to a fantastic start. Their openers Prithvi Shaw and Himanshu Rana put on a strong partnership, adding 67 runs in just a little over 11 overs.
Once Shaw (39, 36b, 6x4) got out, Rana (71, 79b, 6x4, 1x6), the player of the series, and Shubman Gill (70, 92b, 4x4) put on an even better 88-run partnership, taking India past the 150-mark with over 20 overs remaining. The 200 was hit inside 40 overs and India U19, at that point, looked well on course for a score of over 300.
However, the Sri Lanka U19 bowlers pulled things back quite well in the final ten overs, which meant India ended up with 273 for eight.
That was always going to be a difficult target to chase in a final and so it proved to be. While Sri Lanka got off to a decent start – they were 105/1 in 18 overs – wickets just kept falling at regular intervals, with spinners Rahul Chahar and Abhishek Sharma, who went on the win the player of the match honours after 29 in the first innings as well, brilliantly giving India the victory.
The two spinners took seven wickets between them while conceding just 59 runs in 20 overs and those spells meant that Sri Lanka would fall short of the target.
Scores: India U19: 273/8 in 50 overs.
Sri Lanka U19: 239 all out in 48.4 overs.
Result: India U19 won by 34 runs.
Bowling: Sri Lanka U19: Thisaru Rashmika 8-1-48-1; Nipun Ransika 7-0-50-3; Jehan Daniel 4-0-28-0; Praveen Jayawickrama 10-0-53-3; Hareen Weerasingha 10-0-47-0; Hasitha Boyagoda 7-0-29-0; Kamindu Mendis 4-0-17-0.
India U19: Kamlesh Nagarkoti 8-0-54-0; Yash Thakur 6.4-0-52-1; Shiva Singh 10-0-35-0; Rahul Chahar 10-0-22-3; Priyam Garg 1-0-10-0; Abhishek Sharma 10-1-37-4; Shubman Gill 3-0-17-0.
