India defeated Bangladesh by five runs to clinch the Under-19 Asia Cup title on Saturday here at Colombo.
Spinner Atharva Ankolekar took five wickets in the close encounter between the teams as India retained the Under-19 Asia Cup title.
After opting to bat first, India suffered a major blow when Arjun Azad got dismissed in the third over of the match. Indian batsman Tilak Verma was then caught behind the stumps.
Suved Parkar's run-out added insult to the injury as the Men in Blue were found reeling at 8-3 in the sixth over.
Dhruv Jurel then stitched a 45-run partnership with Shashwat Rawat to revive the Indian innings, but the latter was dismissed leg before the wicket in the 15th over.
India kept losing wickets at regular intervals and they were eventually bundled out for 106 in the 33rd over. For India, Karan Lal became the top scorer smashing 37 runs off 43 balls against the run of play.
Chasing 107 runs in the Under-19 Asia Cup final, Bangladesh witnessed the worst possible start with their opening pair returning to the Pavillion in first two overs.
Skipper Akbar Ali showed some hopes to the Bangladeshi fans with his 23-run stand before getting out. Bangladesh never recovered from the setback and was reduced to 78-7 as Ankolekar wreaked havoc.
Ankolekar then wrapped up the Bangladesh innings by dismissing the last two batsmen in the 33rd over as the Tigers fell 5 runs short of the target. Brief scores: India 106/10 (Dhruv Jurel 33, Karan Lal 37, Shamim Hossain 3-8) defeated Bangladesh 101/10 (Akbar Ali 23, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury 21, Atharva Ankolekar 5-28) by five runs.
( With inputs from ANI )
