POTCHEFSTROOM (South Africa): Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali kept his calm to lead his team to a stunning three-wicket win over India to lift the Under-19 World Cup for the first time on Sunday.
Chasing 178 to win, Bangladesh were struggling at 102 for six but Akbar, who finished 43 not out, dragged them towards the line.
A brief flurry of rain saw the players leave the field with Bangladesh on 163 for seven. When they returned the target had been adjusted under DLS to 170 from 46 overs.
Bangladesh needed seven from 30 balls and Akbar and Rakibul Hasan duly knocked off the runs to claim Bangladesh’s first World Cup at any level.
“It’s an unbelievable experience,” said Rakibul who hit the winning run.
“We came here with plans and it worked out really well. Whichever team executes their plans better on the day wins, and that happened for us today.”
The day started well for Bangladesh when Akbar called correctly at the toss and put India in to bat.
Brief Scores: India 177 all out in 50 overs (Y. Jaiswal 88, T. Varma 38, D. Jurel 22; A. Das 3-40, T. Sakib 2-28, S. Islam 2-31) lost to Bangladesh 170-7 in 42.1 overs (P. Emon 47, A. Ali 43 not out; R. Bishnoi 4-30, S. Mishra 2-25).
