Saturday already has its fixture, and it is the one nobody needs to be told about. India against Pakistan, a final, and this time the Indian side walking in has a defeat to answer for.
On Thursday evening at Al Amerat in Oman, India Under-19 beat Afghanistan by eight wickets in the Asia Cup semi-final. The target was 228. India got there in 36.5 overs, losing two wickets, and the captain did the heavy work himself. Lakshya Raichandani made 93 off 90 balls, and VK Vineeth was unbeaten on 57 when the winning runs came. The India U19 Asia Cup final is on Saturday, November 14, at the same ground, starting at 10:30 am IST.
The captain finally cashed in
Raichandani had not had a tournament to remember until Thursday. His scores before the semi-final were 53 not out, 0 and 17, the kind of run that starts conversations around a young captain, fair or not. He answered it the way captains are supposed to, with a 90-ball innings carrying 13 fours and a six, and a 117-run opening stand that took the argument out of the chase before Afghanistan could make one. The BCCI named him Player of the Match, and nobody at the ground would have argued.
Aaryavir Sehwag, the tournament’s leading scorer after his 160 against the UAE, added 51. His scores in this tournament now read 70 not out, 22, 160 and 51, and between him and the captain the top order has made every chase in this tournament feel smaller than the scoreboard says.
Afghanistan never had enough to defend
Afghanistan were asked to bat first and finished on 227 for 8 from their 50 overs. Noman Salarzai and Shah Faisal Rahimi made 51 each, and nobody else got going. Ishan Sood led the Indian attack with 3 for 41, Aryan Savsani took 2 for 29, according to the PTI report of the match, and the total was the kind that looks respectable on a scorecard and never once looked enough on the field. India reached 230 for 2 with 79 balls still in hand, and the last hour of the game had the feel of a training session rather than a semi-final.
That is worth saying plainly, because Afghanistan had arrived unbeaten, and they had beaten Sri Lanka by 106 runs earlier in the tournament. This was not a weak side running into a wall. It was a good side meeting an Indian team that bowled and batted like it had decided the result in advance.
Why the India U19 Asia Cup final is more than a final
Pakistan are the defending champions, and they earned their place the same way India did, by winning big. They bowled Bangladesh out for 138 in their semi-final, Rizwanullah taking 5 for 30, then won by nine wickets with 169 balls to spare. Hayam Khan made 69 and Usman Khan finished unbeaten on 64. That is not a team scraping through. That is a team in form.
Then there is the recent history between these two sides. Pakistan beat India by three wickets in the group stage on November 8, chasing down 208 after Hamza Zahoor’s unbeaten century. India had posted that total on the back of Arjun Rajput’s 107. So Saturday is a rematch, and India know exactly what losing to this Pakistan side feels like, because it happened six days ago.
India have won the Under-19 Asia Cup a record eight times, including one shared title, DD India notes, and this is their 11th appearance in the final, per SportsTak. The record says India own this tournament. The last week says Pakistan have their number, at least for now. Both of those things can be true at the same time, and that is what makes Saturday interesting.
It has been a loud week for Indian cricket anyway, from the senior side sealing the ODI series in New Zealand to Hardik Pandya’s move to Punjab Kings. But a final against Pakistan, at any level, is the fixture that stops everything else. A 10:30 am start on a Saturday means this one will be watched on phones in kitchens and living rooms across the country, half-watched until the last ten overs decide whether anyone remembers the morning.
If Raichandani bats the way he did on Thursday and Sehwag keeps his run going, India start as favourites despite the group-stage defeat. But Pakistan have beaten this side once already in this tournament, and they know it. Which India turns up on Saturday, the one from November 8 or the one from Thursday? That is the whole final, right there.