Sarfaraz and Hooda heroes for India in win over Pakistan

Under 19 World Cup defending champions beat arch-rivals by 40 runs in their Group A match. Paul Radley reports from Dubai.

India's Deepak Hooda, right, was in excellent form with the ball against Pakistan. Kevin J Larkin for The National

DUBAI // Being of diminutive height and some way short of the celebrated status of some of his India colleagues, Sarfaraz Khan has to work hard to get noticed.

Usually that manifests itself in non-stop, stream-of-conscious chatter on the field. Put plainly, the voluble India all-rounder must be a nightmare to play against.

This time, though, he did his talking with a sparkling half-century, a seminal wicket, and four excellent catches in the 40-run win over Pakistan in their Group A match of the Under 19 World Cup.

His 129-run partnership with Sanju Samson, the best known player in the India Under 19 side, was the decisive factor in the victory.

“Sanju and I kept speaking to each other after every over and we kept saying we needed to play the full innings,” Sarfaraz said.

“I really enjoy playing with Sanju and he was telling me about the experience of playing in the [Indian Premier League].

“When I started, obviously there was pressure, also because this was such a big match for us and it was live on TV and millions would be watching.

“But once I stayed there for the first 15 balls, I started feeling a lot more comfortable.”

It is unlikely these best of enemies will be apart for long. This fixture was so riveting it would have made for a decent final, and they will likely meet again at some point near the business end of the competition.

It is either down to the depth of talent on show here, or the general drudgery of much cricket at senior level, but this was probably the most engrossing match played at this venue so far this winter.

Greats of the game such as Dale Steyn, Graeme Smith, Saeed Ajmal and Mahela Jayawardene have passed through here in that time. Seldom was the cricket they played a match for this age-group fare, though.

Opponents who dislike each other. Old scores to settle. Local bragging rights. A platform for unheralded players to announce themselves. A World Cup to win. It was no wonder this game had an edge to it.

The duel between Karamat Ali and India’s batsmen, in particular, was top quality cricket.

He had taken four wickets when these sides met here in the pool stage of the Asia Cup last month, but was seized upon in the final, when he leaked 78 runs.

After a rapid start by India’s openers this time around, their innings stalled in the face of Karamat’s spellbinding leg-spin.

It meant Samson and Sarfaraz had to rebuild the innings, and it was the lesser known all-rounder who took charge.

Having taken 15 balls to get off the mark, Sarfaraz wrestled the ascendancy back to the defending champions with a breezy 74.

“They both played mature innings at a time when the team needed it,” said Vijay Zol, India’s captain.

In contrast to the holders, who have proven performers all the way through their batting line up, Pakistan look rudderless at any time other than when Sami Aslam, their captain, is at the wicket.

The squat opener has made three hundreds in four Asia Cup innings against India, including one last month, and he looked imperious again here.

It often feels like the only way to dismiss him would be via run out, and so it proved here. After he had put on 109 for the first wicket with Imam-ul-Haq, and cruised to a personal tally of 64, he surrendered his wicket after aborting a poorly judged single.

Despite the solid start they had made to their reply, Pakistan never recovered, as Deepak Hooda ended with five wickets for the Indians.

“We were in a very good position to win the game so it was very disappointing to lose from there,” Aslam said.

“I’ve been scoring runs in the previous matches against India and I was out at the wrong time. I planned to go through the innings and wanted to cut down the target alone.”

Bangladesh bully Afghanistan

Bangladesh stemmed the rise of their new Asian rivals Afghanistan for one more day at least, by thrashing their Under 19 side by 10 wickets in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

The comprehensive win avenged the disappointment of last month, when the Afghans pinched a semi-final place at the U19 Asia Cup ahead of Bangladesh.

Shadman Islam hit 126 in an unbroken first-wicket alliance worth 216 with Joyraz Sheik, after Mozaddek Hossain had taken three cheap wickets to inhibit the Afghans.

Despite the hefty margin of victory, Bangladesh have to make do with second place in Group B of the Under 19 World Cup after Australia eased past Namibia.

The three-time champions are seeking to go one better than last time, when they lost the final to India.

They made the best possible start, as Matthew Short’s innings of 96 set up a 101-run victory for the Australians against the African side.

The two lesser-fancied sides in the group also involving Pakistan and India played out a one-sided encounter on the other side of Dubai Sports City.

Chayank Gosain and Ross McLean took three wickets each as Scotland beat Papua New Guinea by six wickets at the ICC Academy.