New Delhi: Indian boys snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to lift the Under-19 Asia Cup trophy at Oman’s Al Amerat on Saturday.
Victory tasted doubly sweet as the opponents happened to be Pakistan, and the boys in blue had lost to the green brigade in the group league stage.
Despite a sparkling opening partnership between skipper Lakshya Raichandani (80) and Aaryavir Sehwag (58), chasing an imposing target of 338, India U-19 slumped to 252/8 in the 42nd over. With India needing 86 runs in 51 balls with just 2 wickets intact, the Pakistani boys were sniffing victory.
Manal Chauhan (47 off 32 balls) and Mohit Ulva (49* off 26) had other ideas, belting the rival bowlers to all parts of the ground to get their team close to the target. When Chauhan was the ninth batter to be dismissed at 309, India were still 29 runs away from the finish line.
Ulva and No. 11 Chigurupati Venkata refused to give up, and India were left to score 8 runs in the final over. The first five balls yielded 5 runs before Ulva smashed a boundary to seal a memorable victory.
The Indian boys were over the moon as they rushed out to greet the last pair. Emotions ran high and the Indian youngsters celebrated on the faces of Pakistani players. There were no handshakes and some Pakistani players were chased by a couple of Indian cricketers, who made angry gestures.
The coaches had to restrain them before it turned ugly.
India Wins #INDvsPAK #U19AsiaCup #AsiaCupU19Final
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The victory completed a memorable double for India. Their women’s team had also won the tournament earlier.