India chases down 339
I saw India secure the Under-19 Asia Cup title in Oman on Saturday by scoring 339 runs to beat Pakistan. Pakistan posted 337/10 in their 50 overs. India reached their target with 339/2 in 50 overs. Captain Lakshya Rajesh Raghuvanshi scored 80 and Aryaveer Sewak scored 58, which provided a strong start for the team. V.K. Vineeth scored 24, while Anvay Dravid hit 19, Arjun Rajput added 16, and Yashvardhan Chauhan scored 9. The Indian innings faltered after the team lost 8 wickets. I find that the composure shown by Mohit Ulva, who entered as the ‘game-changing 10th player’ and scored 49 runs from 26 balls including 5 sixes and 3 boundaries, was the decisive factor. In the final over, India needed 8 runs to win. After Sigurapathy Venkat took a single on the fifth ball from Ahmed Hussain, Ulva hit a boundary over long off to win the match.
Pakistan batting and Indian bowling
Pakistan dominated early, scoring 93 runs within the first 6 overs. Usman Khan scored 107, which was his fourth century in Under-19 One Day Internationals, while captain Farhan Yusuf made 63. Abdul Kathir scored 80 from 54 balls, including 8 sixes and 3 boundaries. I find the sudden drop in Pakistan’s momentum blunt after they reached 274/3 in 40 overs and seemed poised for a much higher score. Usman Khan and Abdul Kathir put on 135 runs for the second wicket, which put intense pressure on the Indian bowlers. Usman Khan completed his century before losing his wicket in the 37th over. India’s bowling unit controlled the scoring in the final 10 overs, where Kavya Patel took 4 wickets and Sigurapathy Venkat took 3 wickets. India replaced Ishan Sood, who has a back injury, with Venkat for this final after India beat Afghanistan in the semifinal. This match marks the second consecutive year that India and Pakistan met in the final, though Pakistan won the 2025 final by 191 runs. Pakistan won all four of their matches in this tournament. The Indian bowlers managed to restrict the run rate in the final overs to prevent a larger total.
