Pakistan captain and prolific opening batsman Sami Aslam holds the key to his side’s success as they take on traditional rivals India in the final of the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup today.
At the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, the two subcontinental giants will hope to break the deadlock from the last edition in Malaysia, where they were declared joint winners after a thrilling tie.
Pakistan will start as the clear favourites though, having beaten India in their group matches both here in the UAE, as well as in the 2012 tournament.
They are currently enjoying an unbeaten streak of 18 matches.
The left-handed Aslam, who was named Player of the Tournament, Man of the Final and the Best Batsman of the Tournament in Malaysia, has continued in the same vein these last few days, with centuries against India and Nepal in the group matches and a match-winning knock of 75 in the semi-finals against Afghanistan.
India made it to the final with a narrow three-wicket win over Sri Lanka, thanks to a brilliant effort from their find of the tournament – wicketkeeper-batsman Ankush Bains, who showed terrific grit in returning to bat after being injured earlier and top-scoring with a 54.
Captain Vijay Zol and his boys will also have to counter the legspin of Karamat Ali, who took four wickets in Pakistan’s group match win and is the leading bowler of the tournament with 16 wickets so far.
Zol himself hasn’t fired that well with the bat in this tournament (highest score was an unbeaten 61 against Nepal), and there could be no better match to let his bat do the talking than today’s.
As for India’s bowling, a lot will depend on Kuldeep Yadav. The 19-year-old Chinaman bowler has been their best performer with 12 wickets in four matches so far.
TEAMS
Pakistan U19s (from): Sami Aslam (c),Shayan Jahangir, Imam-ul-Haq, Nisar Afridi, Hasan Raza, Saud Shakeel, Hussain Talat, Zafar Gohar, Kamran Ghulam, Saifullah Khan (wk), Salman Saeed, Karamat Ali, Mohammad Aftab
India U19S (from): Vijay Zol (c), Ankush Bains (wk), Akhil Herwadkar, Sanju Samson, Ricky Bhui, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Aamir Gani, Kuldeep Yadav, Chama Milind, Avesh Khan, Karan Kaila, Monu Kumar. Match starts at 9:30
