Playing against Namibia always brought up a chance of an upset. However, Bangladesh U19 didn’t let it happen as they were confident in their approach and didn’t give their opponents a chance. After being put to bat first by Namibia, openers Pinak Ghosh and Mohd. Naim Sheikh gave them the blistering start that they needed.

Indeed, it was Pinak Ghosh who blazed to a 17-ball 26 before Naim took charge to make 60 from 43, but it was Saif Hassan’s magnificent innings of 84 from 48 that set the game up for Bangladesh. The youngster played a captain’s innings as he blasted the score to 190 from 20 overs.

None of the Namibian bowlers had exceptional figures—and who could blame them?—as the quartet of Petrus Burger, Dewald Neil, Ben Shikongo and Shaun Fouche took a wicket each, but also leaked a lot of runs in the process.

In response, the Namibians couldn’t handle the storm caused by the Bangladeshi youngsters. They did, however, put up a good fight in the end. Eben van Wyk made 55 from 52 while Nicol Loftie-Eaton scored 24 from 26 balls.

Their respective innings helped Namibia put up 103 in their 20 overs.

For the bowlers, Qazi Onik and Hasan Mahmud took two wickets each while giving away less than 4 runs-per-over. Towhid Hridoy also took a wicket to hurt the Namibians. In the end, it was a comfortable win for the Bangladeshi boys as they will look forward to repeating their heroics in the upcoming games.

Final score:

Bangladesh U19 – 190/4 after 20 overs.
Saif Hassan 84(48) | Dewald Nell 3-0-22-1
Mohd. Naim Sheikh 60(43)
Namibi U19 – 103/6 after 20 overs.
Eben van Wyk 55(52) | Hasan Mahmud 4-0-12-2
Nicol Loftie-Eaton 24(26)