||Desk Report||

The Bangladesh U19 team have qualified for ACC Under-19 Asia Cup semi-finals by winning their last group match against the Hong Kong U19s.

The junior Tigers advance to the semi-finals as Group B runners-up, where they will meet the Group A champions, the India U19s.

The Towhid Hridoy-led side were in a must-win situation in their last match after picking up one loss and one win in their previous group clashes against the Sri Lanka U19s and the Pakistan U19s, respectively.

Despite registering a five-wicket win over the Hong Kong U19s, the Bangladesh U19s still had to wait until Pakistan U19s lost their last group match to the Sri Lanka U19 team (by 23 runs), as the Pakistani side would have the same points and a better net run rate than them had they won their last match.

Winning the toss, Bangladesh U19s decided to bowl first and ripped apart the Hong Kong U19s’ batting lineup to bundle them out for 91 runs.

Rishad Hossain again topped the wicket-taking charts for Bangladesh U19s as he bagged three wickets. Mrittunjoy Chowdhury and Rakibul Hasan also took two scalps each and Shoriful Islam, Minhazur Rahman, and Shamim Hossain picked up one wicket each.

Coming on to chase a paltry target, Bangladesh U19s lost four wickets while posting their first 30 runs as they faced much difficulties in handling Hong Kong’s Nasrulla Rana who took a four-wicket haul in the match. Akbar Ali and Mahmudul Hasan Joy, however, brought the junior Tigers back in the match by stitching a crucial 58-run stand.

Ali was dismissed by Hassan Khan for 25 runs, but Joy remained unbeaten on 32 runs while Shoriful Islam came in and added the last four runs by hitting a boundary off the very first ball that he faced.

Bangladesh U19s will take on the India U19s on Thursday (October 4) in the first semi-final match. The second semi-final will see the Sri Lanka U19s facing the defending Under-19 Asia Cup champions, the Afghanistan U19s, on the next day.

 

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