Bangladesh lift maiden U-19 Asia Cup title

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Bangladesh lift maiden U-19 Asia Cup title

Sports Desk:

Bangladesh claimed their maiden Under-19 Asia Cup title when they thrashed United Arab Emirates by 195 runs in the final of the 2023 edition in Dubai on Sunday.

Batting first, opener Ashiqur Rahman Shibli’s century, alongside fifties from Chowdhury Md Rizwan and Ariful Islam, saw the junior Tigers post 282-8 in 50 overs.

In reply, the UAE batters could not even sniff a chance of chasing the total down as Bangladesh bowlers strangled them to bowl them out for just 87, sealing the title.

Shibli won the Player of the Match award for his century and also won the Player of the Tournament award for 378 runs in the tournament, including two tons and two fifties.

‘Our plan was that we must win this match. We came here to be champions, and we did it,’ Shibli said after the final.

Bangladesh headed into the tie as favourites despite the UAE defeating Pakistan in the semis, and their performance proved the reason.

Shibli almost carried his bat through the Bangladesh innings as he scored 129 off 149 balls before getting dismissed in the final over, hitting 12 fours and a six, putting together a 125-run stand with Chowdhury Md Rizwan for the second wicket and then adding further 86 runs with Ariful Islam for the next.

Both Rizwan and Ariful hit fifties, as the former scored 60 off 71 balls while the latter hit a quickfire 50 off 39 balls, providing the Bangladesh innings with momentum to reach 282.

Defending that total, Bangladesh gave no chance to UAE as left-arm pacer Maruf Mridha got both their openers, Aryansh Sharma (9) and Akshat Rai (11), early and Rohanat Doullah Borson got Tanish Suri (6) within the first powerplay.

While Dhruv Parashar (25 not out) tried to form some form of resistance, he ran out of partners in no time as the Bangladesh bowlers did not allow any of the last seven batters to even reach double digit.

Maruf and Borson took three wickets each, while Iqbal Hossain Emon and Sheikh Paevez Jibon picked up two, with the latter picking up the final UAE wicket to seal Bangladesh’s maiden U-19 Asia Cup title.