India Under-19 beats Pakistan Under-19 by 40runs

DUBAI: Pakistan Under-19 lost India Under-19 by 40 runs in the first clash of the Under-19 World Cup on Saturday, ARY News reported.

India had won the toss in Dubai and decided to bat first. 

Indian top order batsmen weren’t able to display good show and kept on losing wickets and were 94-4 at one stage. 

The middle-order feeling the reliability displayed all-round ability. Sanju Samson’s 68 and Sarfaraz Khan's 74 were crucial in getting India to a competitive 262. It was a partnership that played out in two gears. Both took their time to size up the conditions, assess the situation and act accordingly.

 Deepak Hooda remained unbeaten at the score of 22.

Start of Pakistan’s chase was reasonable despite of some tight bowling by India's opening bowlers. Indian bowlers kept Pakistani openers on a leash as the first boundary came in the ninth over.

Sami Aslam (64) and Imam-ul-Haq (39) remained steady to set a foundation with the opening partnership of 109 runs.

Both of them got out back to back but the biggest blow to Pakistan, though, was Aslam's departure at the score 119 runs. Suddenly, Pakistan had two new batsmen at the crease but were still very much in the game, with a required rate of 6.12.

There was a series of mistakes contributed to Pakistan's slide. Hasan Raza stayed back to a delivery from Sarfaraz that kept low and was bowled. 

Two balls later, Kamran Ghulam was struggling to make his ground to the bowler's end and was run-out off a direct hit. 

Bizarrely, the bowler Sarfaraz had accidentally knocked off one bail with his arm before collecting the throw but to his luck, Hooda's throw knocked down the other bail and Ghulam was deemed run-out. 

Indian right-arm off-break Deepak Hooda took five-wickets haul.