Team India will have a shot at revenge on Saturday (January 29) as they face Bangladesh in the quarter-final of the Under-19 World Cup. The encounter will be a repeat of the 2020 U-19 World Cup final, where the Tigers came out on top. The clash will freshen the memories of the 2020 final where set of players from both the teams clashed including the support staff. Both teams will be full of confidence, but the Indian team will have the edge having won all their group encounters in the tournament so far.
Last World Cup meeting ended in a fight
The last time this two met in the World Cup, the two teams collided in a heated alternation that later got physical. Bangladesh won the final by three wickets by DLS method. But Shoriful Islam's send off for Yashasvi Jaiswal was one of the flash points that led to the chaos in the final. Despite Jaiswal's 88-run knock, the clash ended in an embarrassing defeat for India in the final as Bangladesh clinched their maiden title.
What does the form say?
Momentum will be on Team India's side on Saturday as they have won all of their last eight matches in all competitions. The Asian champions are one of the favourites, but were curtailed by Covid-19 absentees in their previous encounters. However, that didn't stop the Indian team from winning big against Ireland and Uganda.
Bangladesh on the flip side bounced back from their opening day defeat against England with convincing wins against Canada and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The defending champions will have to work to do though, as they will have to keep Raj Bawa and Angkrish Raghuvanshi shut.
So far in the U-19 World Cup
The Indian team beat South Africa by 45 runs in a tight contest on the opening day thanks to captain Yash Dhull's knock of 82 runs and Vicky Ostwal's fifer. That win was followed by a convincing 174-run win against Ireland in Trinidad. The same venue saw team India register a record 405/5 against Uganda last Saturday. In absence of Dhull, Nishant Sandhu led India to their third consecutive win in the tournament.
The defending champions had a poor start to the campaign, as they embarrassingly lost to England. The entire team managed to score only 97 runs, as England ran out winners by seven wickets. But an eight-wicket and nine-wicket win in the remaining two group matches saw the champions through as group winners.
Return of big players
While skipper Yash Dhull, vice-captain Shaik Rasheed, Siddharth Yadav, Aaradhya Yadav and Manav Parakh will be making a comeback to the side, stand-in skipper Sindhu has been ruled out of the clash after testing positive for Covid-19.
Repeat of Asia Cup semi-final
The contest could also serve as revenge for Bangladesh as they were beaten by India just over a month ago in Sharjah in the U-19 Asia Cup. After scoring 243/8 while batting first, the Bangladesh team were nowhere closer to the target as they lost by 103 runs. Rasheed of India will have happy memories of this one as he scored an unbeaten 90 runs to guide India to the final.
The encounter will be played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua and the match will start at 6:30 PM IST.
