The young Bangladesh U-19 side conquered yet another milestone in their promising cricketing history this Sunday by beating the tournament favorites India U-19 by 59 runs. The young Tigers prevailed in a low-scoring thriller which had all the viewers on the edge of their seats. 

This is also Bangladesh U-19's second U-19 Asia Cup title win and the young side would be mighty proud of achieving such a monumental feat against a quality India U-19 side. It was a horror show for India this Sunday as not only their young team but also their men's and women's team suffered horrific defeats at the hands of Australians down under.

Bangladesh's road to glory in the Asia Cup Final

After winning the toss, the Indian U-19 skipper inserted Bangladesh U-19 to have a bat first. The India U-19 bowlers made early inroads with the ball as Yudhajit Guha cleaned up Bangladesh opener Kalam Siddiki relatively early for 1. Zawad Abrar offered some resistance with the bat and chipped in with a useful 20 before being removed by Chetan Sharma. 

Further on, Guha's resilience with the ball helped India to assert their authority further as the Bangladeshi skipper Azizul Hakim was removed in the 19th over causing Bangladesh to slip to 66-3. 

Mohammad Shihab James and Rizan Hossan then stitched a 62-run stand for the fourth wicket to add life to the Bangladesh innings, but wickets in quick succession pegged back their hard-earned momentum. The Indian bowlers made a strong comeback during the middle overs which triggered a collapse as Bangladesh went from 128-3 to 167-8 and subsequently got bowled out for 198 thanks to a gutsy 30-run stand between Farid Hasan and Maruf Mridha.

The winning moment for the young Tigers

Bangladesh U19 players bring the dressing room alive after clinching the ACC Men’s Asia Cup trophy | #BCB #Cricket #ACC #ACCMensU19AsiaCup pic.twitter.com/06Phg5gsya

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) December 8, 2024

In response to Bangladesh 198, India U-19 failed to get going in the run chase. Mhatre and the 13-year-old overhyped Vaibhav Suryavanshi perished in the first five overs of the run chase. And soon enough Andre Siddharth became the next Indian victim as India U-19 found themselves precariously placed at 44-3 within 12 overs. 

But it all came down to some destructive bowling from Iqbal Hossain Emon and Azizul Hakim who snapped three wickets each to derail India U-19 off course in this run chase. The duo unleashed their terror on the Indian batters and breached the Indian middle order in no time. Despite facing some resistance from Hardik and Chetan down the order, the game was firmly in their grasp.

Azizul applied the finishing touches by picking up the last Indian wicket to power Bangladesh U-19 to a euphoric 59-run win in Dubai. Emon registered figures of 3-24 in his 7 overs while Azizul recorded 3-8 in just 2.2 overs. 

Despite their men's team not being at their prime best, Bangladesh's youth have a lot of untapped potential. Time and again, their youngsters have shown tremendous promise and grit to excel in major ICC and ACC tournaments. 

Bangladesh U-19 side are the proud title winner of the 2020 U-19 World Cup as well as the 2023 and 2024 Asia Cup editions. With so much talent at their disposal, the senior management in BCB need to have a robust plan in place to nurture such talent and make them battle-ready to compete at the highest level. 

See also: Bangladesh create history in Sabina Park, Register their maiden Test win in the Caribbean since 2009