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Journalism of Courage
Medium pacer Sandeep Warrier picked up three wickets,while opener Unmukt Chand struck a patient half-century as Indias Under-23 team got the better of Pakistan by three wickets in a limited overs Group A match of the ACC Emerging Teams Cup at the Kallang Ground in Singapore on Sunday.
Chasing 192 for victory,Indians got off to a fine start with Under-19 World Cup winning skipper Chand 61 and Lokesh Rahul 46 providing the team a solid platform. And despite the middle-order batsmen not contributing as expected,India could sail home with 13 balls to spare at Kallang Ground.
Chand and Rahul shared a 84-run stand for the opening wicket. Apart from the duo,India skipper Suryakumar Yadav also made an useful contribution with 23 runs after Pakistans left-arm spinner Raza Hasan picked up three wickets to take the contest to the closing stages.
Opting to field first,the Indian pace duo of Sandeep Sharma and Warrier proved their captains decision right by exposing Pakistans frail batting line-up. Both were incisive with their opening spells,slicing through the opposition top-order,reducing Pakistan to 22 for three inside 10 overs.
Openers Babar Azam 2 and Azeem Ghumman 3 departed in quick succession,while Bilawal Bhatti 7 too made his way back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers much.
It was then left to Umar Waheed 46 and Usman Salahuddin 61 to steady the rapidly sinking ship and provide some stability to the innings.
The pair added 85 runs for the fourth wicket to take the teams total past 100-run mark before left-arm spinner Akshar Patel broke the stand by scalping Waheed. Pakistan never recovered from the loss and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals before Salahuddin also ran out of his patience and was caught by Baba Aparajith at covers off Warrier in the 47th over of the innings. His 105-ball 61 was studded with just two hits to the fence.
While Warrier finished with a brilliant figures of three for 32 from his nine overs,Sharma chipped in with two wickets for 39.
Great start
In reply,Indians got off to a flying start as Chand and Rahul denied Pakistans frontline bowlers any success. Both were cautious in their approach and mostly dealt in twos and threes while looking for occasional boundaries.
The opening wicket stand was broken by left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz when he disturbed the timbers of Rahul. Hasan then had Manpreet Juneja 11 bowled as the twin strikes reinvigorated the Pakistan side.
From 106 for two,the Indian side was suddenly struggling at 160 for six with Chand,Yadav,Ankit Bawne 5 and Patel 6 all back in the pavilion.
With the match turning into an exciting contest with both sides looking to start their campaign with a win,Aparajith 13 not out and Ashok Menaria 18 combined well and raised a crucial 31-run partnership for the seventh wicket to take their side home. For Pakistan,apart from Hasan 3/39,Nawaz accounted for two wickets.
The other two teams in Group A are Nepal and Afghanistan. Whereas,in the other half of the table,Group B,two of Sri Lanka,Bangladesh,UAE and Singapore will look to make it to the knockout stage of the event. India take on Nepal next,on August 20.
Brief scores: Pak u-23 191/7 in 50 overs U Salahuddin 61,U Waheed 46,S Warrier 3/32,S Sharma 2/39 lost t India u-23 192/7 in 47.5 overs U Chand 61,K Rahul 46,R HAsan 3/39
