Sameer Minhas’ record 172 powers Pakistan to dominant win over India in Under-19 Asia Cup final

Chasing a mammoth 348 runs for victory, Vaibhav Suryavanshi did what he does best, giving India the kickstart they needed by scoring 21 runs in the first over. But his captain at the other end – Ayush Mhatre, in need of a substantial score, fell cheaply again, caught at mid-off by his counterpart Yousaf for two runs off Ali Raza.

The onus was on the in-form Aaron George to deliver, and he began with four boundaries, but a short ball from Mohammad Sayyam led to his downfall in the fourth over. While Pakistan had ripped through the top order, they still had the Suryavanshi threat to deal with. However, it wasn’t long before they dismissed him as the southpaw fell trying to drive a back-of-a-length delivery, caught behind off Raza for 26 to leave India in deep trouble at 49/3.

The middle-order had a mountain to climb to keep India in the hunt, but after the early Suryavanshi assault, the Pakistan bowlers extracted a lot more out of the surface compared to the Indian counterparts. The trio of Raza, Sayyam and Abdul Subhan troubled the Indian batters by mixing their lengths efficiently, and the Indians failed to cope with the sustained discipline.

While Raza was the most successful pacer on show with 4/42 in 6.2 overs, Subhan was the most impressive, claiming figures 2/29 in the eight overs. Deepesh Devendran gave some late entertainment with the bat with some lusty blows, but the chase had fizzled out well before he had come to the crease.

Minhas the star

Earlier, Mhatre’s decision to bowl first backfired as his bowlers failed to hit the right lengths on a surface with minimal help. They were either too wide or too full, and opening batter Sameer Minhas made most of the mediocre bowling, smashing his way to a superb 172 off 113 balls — the highest score by a batter in an Under-19 Asia Cup final — with 17 fours and nine sixes, taking Pakistan to 347/8 after 50 overs.

The right-hander brought out his full array of strokes to put the Indians under enormous pressure. Minhas was unafraid to take the aerial route from a very early stage, launching the ball over the on-side boundaries to set the stage for Pakistan to reach a big score.

Mhatre brought on the spinners to stem the flow of runs, but Minhas was equally dismissive of the slower bowlers. The most striking aspect of his batting against spin was how he used his feet to them and launched them into the stands with a straight bat and a clear mind. It seemed like he had made up his mind to always look to go big after charging down the track, rather than defend the ball.

The right-hander got to his 50 off 29 balls and took a mere 42 more balls to reach his century, on-driving a full toss from Devendran for four. Minhas put on 92 runs for the second wicket with Usman Khan, but it was his partnership of 137 runs from 125 balls with Ahmed Hussain that left India needing a massive score to chase in the second innings.

It was Devendran, who ended Minhas’ stay in the middle, but not before the batter had scored 52 runs of his bowling – the most among all the Indian bowlers on show on Sunday. Minhas also went after off-spinner Kanishk Chouhan, scoring 42 off 28 balls to cap off a match-defining performance.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 347/8 in 50 overs (Minhas 172, Hussain 56; Deepesh Devendran 3/83) beat India 156 all out in 26.2 overs (Devendran 36; Raza 4/42, Subhan 2/29) by 191 runs.