Potchefstroom (South Africa): Sharp bowling from the fiery Bangladesh pacers and good fielding coupled with some slack running between the wickets led to India folding for 177 in the ICC U19 World Cup final on Sunday in Potchefstroom. India are looking to win their fifth title while this is the first time that Bangladesh have reached the final.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was the standout performer for India, scoring 88 off 121 balls. He has scored at least a half-century in all but one match in this tournament and ends it as top scorer with a whopping 400 runs.
However, his teammates fell in a pack to Bangladesh who came out all guns blazing.
India were put to bat first after Bangladesh won the toss and openers Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena were greeted with a barrage of deliveries angled at the body and cramping them for space. Saxena was, especially, targeted by Tanzim Hasan Sakib with the ball and verbally. It took India 14 balls to finally get their first run.
The constant pressure from Sakib and Shoriful Islam eventually did the trick when Saxena flashed at a delivery outside off stump and drove it straight to backward point. Avishek Das was the man who got the wicket and it was his first over of the match.
After this came the most stable period of the Indian innings as Jaiswal and Tilak Varma stood their ground to the Bangladesh attack. Runs began to flow and Jaiswal scored his fifth 50 of the tournament. The pair also took India past the 100-run mark and their partnership was worth 94 runs.