Yash Dhull led India Under-23 side has been impressing everyone in the Emerging Asia Cup being played in Sri Lanka. The Indian team has beaten UAE A and Nepal side before taking on Pakistan. The big game was played at Colombo in the group B of the league phase. Both the teams had won their first two games as the tournament heads into the Semi Finals. The semi finals will be played on 21st July while the final will be played on 23rd.
The story so far –
Pakistan A won the toss and chose to bat first. A win for either of the teams will give them a chance to finish at the top of the table. A win will not only get the team a spot in the final 4 but also a chance to play against Bangladesh A in the semi finals, while the losers will take on Sri Lanka A in the other semi finals.
Harshit Rana comes up with a stunning catch –
Pakistan A, batter Qasim Akram was facing the task of taking his side to a decent total. Rajvardhan Hangarekar was bowling round the wicket when Akram when for a wild slash off a wide ball. The ball was travelling at a good speed and seemed to go for a boundary. That’s when Harshit Rana jumped in the air and put up his right hand to grab a difficult catch to send back Qasim Akram.
Please check Harshit Rana's shoes for springs!#INDvPAKonFanCode #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/wfK3A16Qwq
— FanCode (@FanCode) July 19, 2023
Hangarekar fifer bowls out Pakistan for 205 –
Batting first after winning the toss, Pakistan were all out for 205. Rajvardhan Hangarekar began the slide first by dismissing opener Saim Ayub for a duck, followed by Omair Yousuf for a duck. Sahibzada Farhan scored 35 off 36 balls with 8 fours before falling to Riyan Parag. Manav Suthar then got the wickets of Haseebullah Khan for 27 and Kamran Ghulam for 15 before getting skipper Mohammad Haris for 14.
Nishant Sindhu also got got into the wicket taking act dismissing Mubasir Khan for 28. Hangarekar was the star of the show. The right arm pacer got the wicket of Qasim Akram who top scored with 48 off 63 balls with 5 fours. Hangarekar then got rid of Mohammad Wasim Jr for 8 and Shahnawaz Dahan for 4 to finish with 5/42 from his 8 overs which also included a maiden over.
Sai Sudarshan and Nikin Jose put India on cusp of a win –
Chasing 206 to win, India lost Abhishek Sharma for 20 off 26 balls with 4 fours when he was bowled by Mubasir Khan. Sai Sudarshan scored yet another half century to keep his good form going. Young Karnataka batter Nikin Jose was out for 53 off 64 balls with 7 fours when he was stumped by Haris off Mehran Mumtaz. At the time of writing India were 165/2 with 18 overs to go needing 41 runs with Sudarshan on 78 and Yash Dhull yet to open his account.