Press Trust of India
Kolkata, Nov 20: Pacer Avesh Khan bowled (4/4) brilliantly Friday to power India to an emphatic 82-run victory over Bangladesh in the under-19 tri-series ODI opener here Friday.
Defending a paltry 159, India were off to a splendid start as the six-feet two inches tall pacer from Madhya Pradesh picked up a wicket with his first ball before reducing Bangladesh to 23/4 in 6.2 overs with his rattling spell.
The visitors were eventually bundled out for 76 in 22 overs for the Indian colts to record the one-sided victory at the Jadavpur University ground here.
Khan was finely supported by left-arm pacer Kanishk Seth (2/45) at the other end as the duo bowled 12 overs in tandem before the off-spin and leg-spin duo of Mayank Dagar (1/7) and Zeeshan Ansari (2/1) wiped out the tail to hand them a bonus point victory.
In the very first ball, Khan produced an off-cutter that sharply cut in, a ball Bangladeshi opener Mohammad Saif Hasan chose to leave as it clipped his off-stump. That was the beginning of the Bangladesh end. Khan generated bounce and movement off the seam to trouble the Bangladeshi top order.
In his next over, Khan had Pinak Ghosh (1) caught behind to continue his glorious spell as India could not have thought for a better start.
India now have five points, while Bangladesh are yet to open their account in the tournament also involving Afghanistan. India will take on Afghanistan, Saturday in their second match.
Earlier, Indian skipper Ricky Bhui’s decision to opt to bat seemed to have backfired as the Bangladesh seamer Mohammad Abdul Halim (2/24) claimed wickets in successive balls to reduce the hosts to two for 25.
The Indian youngsters too failed to come up as a batting unit and were reduced to 76/7 as the Bangladeshi skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz (3/31) with his off-breaks returned as the wrecker-in-chief.
Brief scores: India U-19 158(Zeeshan Ansari 34; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 3/31, Mohammad Abdul Halim 2/24) beat Bangladesh U-19 76 all out (Avesh Khan 4/4, Kanishk Seth 2/45, Zeeshan Ansari 2/1).
