U-19 Asia Cup: India, Pak share honours

Indian colts lost wickets in a heap towards the end of the innings as the U-19 Asia Cup final against Pakistan ended in a thrilling tie as both countries shared honours at the Kinrara Academy Oval, in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

While Pakistan scored 282 for nine off 50 overs, India could level scores losing eight wickets when the proceedings ended.

Required to get seven off the last over, India lost skipper Unmukt Chand (121) in the fourth ball before Rush Kalaria slammed Ehsan Adil through the off side for a four to level the scores.

The right-hander, however, failed to score of the last ball of the match as he chipped it straight to the mid-off, much to the dismay of the 2000 odd people present at the ground.

Chasing a victory target of 282, India started off sedately losing opener Manan Vohra in the fifth over before Chand and Baba Aparajith combined together to put their team into the drivers seat.

The duo amassed 175 runs for the second wicket, with Aparajith leading the run chase with a 90 off just 86 balls before being dismissed by Mohammad Nawaz in the 37th over of the match.

Vijay Zol, who followed Aparajith to the crease, could not contribute much with the bat as he fell to Zia-ul-Haq after adding just 11 to the Indian total.

Akshdeep Nath (23) in association with skipper Chand took India closer to the target, summing 33 runs for the fourth wicket, but his dismissal in the 45th over opened the floodgates as the team lost five wickets for just 35 runs to finish the match at 282 for eight.

For Pakistan, Adil and Nawaz took three wickets apiece to halt the rampaging Indian side.

Earlier, Pakistan rode on a 134 of just 124 balls from opener Sami Aslam to pile up challenging total on the board.

Aslam was helped by Umar Waheed (48) to take Pakistan to stability after they lost skipper Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq at a score of 62.

Aslam and Waheed added 100 runs for the third wicked before Vikas Mishra got better off the later in the 32nd over of the match.

Sandeep Sharma then sent back Mohammad Nawaz on 13 before left-armer Kalaria returned to pick five wickets in the death overs to restrict Pakistan to 282 for nine at the end of their innings.

Kalaria returned with a match figures of five for 37 from his quota of 10 overs.