OPINION
Follow UsYou have lost both your openers with just 37 runs on the board, the surface at the Coolidge Cricket Ground is still slightly on the trickier side, so what do you do? You do exactly what Yash Dhull and Shaik Rasheed did against Australia in the second Super League Semi-Final of the 2022 Under-19 World Cup on Wednesday (February 2). The Indian captain and his deputy put up a masterclass on how to build a partnership in precarious conditions and batted Australia out of the contest, helping the Boys in Blue qualify for their fourth consecutive final. They were as professional as anyone could get, and mind you, we are still talking about Under-19 cricket.
Dhull and Rasheed displayed tremendous mental courage and put on a massive 204-run stand for the third wicket to propel India to a formidable total of 290/5 in their 50 overs. India have never lost a World Cup encounter after posting anything more than 250 and it took them only 41.5 overs to bundle Australia out for 194, hence setting up a date with England in the grand finale in Antigua on Saturday. Dhull (run-a-ball 110) became the third Indian captain to smash an Under-19 World Cup century after Virat Kohli (vs West Indies in 2008) and Unmukt Chand (vs Australia in 2012), while Rasheed (108-ball 94) fell just six runs short of his landmark.
“The plan from me and Rasheed was to bat till the end, and it worked. It's a proud moment (to be the third Indian captain to score a U-19 WC ton after Kohli and Chand). The idea was to bat steadily, not to try too many shots, and to bat past the 40th over. Myself and Rasheed bat well together, we combine well and it showed in this game. Rasheed is mentally very strong. We were in the bubble together and he was always mentally prepared to get out there and make an impact,” said Dhull, who was named player of the match, after India emerged victorious by 96 runs.
Dhull caught everyone by surprise when India opted to bat first after winning the toss at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, where batting in the first hour was going to be extremely difficult, and on top of that, not a single team had gone past the 200-run mark at this venue. There was enough moisture on the surface and Indian openers Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Harnoor Singh looked completely out of rhythm during their stay in the middle. India's leading run-getter in the tournament, Raghuvanshi (30-ball 6) was undone by a superb away-swinger from William Salzmann, while Harnoor (28-ball 16) was caught behind off a well-directed short delivery from Jack Nisbet. It felt like Dhull might have made a mistake by opting to bat first but the Indian skipper and vice-captain put their heads down and went about their business in a very calm manner, helping India avert a crisis.
The duo managed to see off a couple of overs from seamers Salzmann and Nisbet and focused on the strike rotation once the spinners (Jack Sinfield, Cooper Connolly and Nivethan Radhakrishnan) started bowling in tandem. The two pounced on every single bad delivery but avoided unnecessary risks. It felt like you were watching two mature batters, in their late 20s, operate at their very best. Rasheed had already faced 17 deliveries by the time Dhull walked out to bat but was still struggling to get his timing right. Meanwhile, Dhull took 25-odd deliveries to get his eye in before he was offered a half-tracker from his opposite number, Connolly, allowing him to gain some momentum. Australia could have broken this partnership in the 24th over when Rasheed chipped one toward short mid-wicket but Lachlan Shaw didn’t time his jump right and failed to grab a sharp chance.
Dhull and Rasheed, who didn’t play against Ireland and Uganda after testing positive for Covid, batted with a steady approach till the 30th over before shifting gears and putting the pressure back on Australia. Dhull, in particular, took the attack to Australia and smoked four boundaries in the space of five overs. The 19-year-old from Delhi was brilliant square of the wicket through the off-side but also played a couple of eye-pleasing shots through the cover and deep mid-wicket regions, including a Virat Kohli-esque short-arm jab. While Dhull was going all guns blazing at one end, Rasheed kept anchoring the innings and completed his half-century off 78 deliveries. The two are used to scoring big at the domestic level and it was heartening to see them replicate that at the global level.
Once Rasheed completed his fifty, the right-hander from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh went berserk and started playing a lot more freely, even matching his captain’s strokeplay. In his next 30 deliveries, Rasheed smoked 44 runs. India managed 68 runs between the 30th and 40th over and when Rasheed slammed Salzmann for three consecutive boundaries in the 41st over, the shoulders started to drop in the Australian camp. The boundaries started flowing from both ends and Australia looked completely out of sorts against these two batters. It was in the 45th over, Dhull managed a couple of boundaries off Tom Whitney and completed his century. The young man celebrated the landmark by dancing down the track to Whitney and clobbering him for a six over long-on.
“Yash doesn’t let pressure affect him. He is sensible, calm, and controls his emotions well. Youngsters find it hard to handle the pressure of expectations these days. Yash is an exception,” former Delhi first-class cricketer and Dhull's coach Pradeep Kochar was quoted as saying by the Indian Express prior to the showpiece event and the No. 4 batter showed exactly why he is so highly-rated. Dhull crafted 10 fours and a six before he was run out in an unfortunate fashion in the 46th over. Meanwhile, Rasheed too was caught at backward point on the very next delivery, missing out a well-deserved hundred. The two couldn’t hang around till the end, but by the time they left, India were already in a commanding position.
Bana finally makes his presence felt before spinners take over
Wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Bana is one of the cleanest strikers of the ball at junior level but the 17-year-old from Haryana hardly got any chance to showcase his brute power in India’s first four games of the tournament. Bana operated at an average of 90 in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy but actually fixed his place in the Indian team when he clobbered 170 off 98 deliveries in one of the Challenger Trophy encounters. Even in the semi-final against Australia, Bana faced only four balls but that was enough for the right-hander to force everyone to sit up and take notice. Bana smoked 4, 6, 4 and 6 off the four deliveries he faced and kept the momentum in India’s favour. After managing only 86 runs in the first 25 overs, India slammed 204 runs in the second half of the innings, with 108 coming off the last 10 overs, and 27 off the final over.
The surface was much better than what we had seen in the previous games at the Coolidge Cricket Ground but India knew they had more than enough runs on the board. Their job became even easier when left-arm paceman Ravi Kumar got rid of Australia’s most in-form batter Teague Wyllie in the second over. Once he perished, Kaushal Tambe (1/32), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (1/13), Vicky Ostwal (3/42) and Nishant Sindhu (2/25) took over and shared seven wickets between them to dismantle Australia, who had a rough time even against Sri Lankan spinners in the league stage.
Campbell Kellaway (30), Corey Miller (38) and Lachlan Shaw (51) stuck around for a while but never really threatened India. The stage is now set for the grand finale, with both India and England being unbeaten in the competition, but unless Dhull and Co. mess up big time at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, the Boys in Blue shouldn’t have a lot of trouble claiming their fifth Under-19 title.
