Vaibhav Suryavanshi picked up his first-ever youth ODI wicket, against Pakistan under-19, in the ongoing Asia Cup on Sunday (December 14).
Vaibhav Suryavanshi makes up for rare batting failure with a wicket
After striking a record-breaking 171 off 95 in India U19’s opening game of the Asia Cup against the United Arab Emirates, Suryavanshi faltered with the bat against Pakistan. He faced just four balls across the first three overs after Pakistan chose to chase in Dubai, with Ayush Mhatre taking most of the strike, and was then dismissed for five off six.
Aaron George held the Indian innings together, scoring his second fifty in two games of the tournament, and took the team to 240. He scored 85 off 88, adding 49 runs for the second wicket with Mhatre and 60 for the fifth wicket with Abhigyan Kundu. Off-spinning all-rounder Kanishk Chouhan put in a commendable rearguard effort to score a run-a-ball 46.
Chouhan then joined hands with pacer Deepesh Devendran to derail Pakistan’s chase. Bowling first change, Deepesh took the first three Pakistan wickets to fall to reduce them to 30-3 by the 14th over. Chouhan then dismissed opener Usman Khan in the next over to bring them down to 30-4.
Captain Farhan Yousaf and their only half-centurion of the game, Huzaifa Ahsan, then added 47 runs for the fifth wicket, Pakistan’s biggest partnership of the game. Just as it looked like the duo could build a platform from where they could try to go for the win, Suryavanshi struck.
Brought on by Mhatre to bowl the 24th over, with his left-arm spin, the 14-year-old forced Farhan into a slice straight into the hands of the short third man. Pakistan couldn’t recover from the fall of their skipper’s wicket and were all out for 150. Huzaifa top-scored with a 70, but only two other batters got into double digits.
Chouhan and Deepesh both picked up three wickets each for India, while pacer Kishan took the last two Pakistan wickets to fall. Suryavanshi bowled just the one over and wasn’t called on to bowl again by his captain. Notably, this was the southpaw’s first wicket in U19 ODIs. He, however, has previously taken two first-class wickets.
With two wins in two, India U19 rose to the top of the Group A table. They will next face Malaysia on Tuesday, December 16.
