U19 World Cup: India take revenge for Bangladesh's behaviour 2 years ago

India's 'class of 2022' exacted sweet revenge against Bangladesh at the ICC U-19 World Cup on Saturday. Beating them by 5 wickets, India have now set up a semifinal clash against Australia.

By avenging their defeat in the ill-tempered 2020 U19 World Cup final to Bangladesh, India have also ensured the defending champions have been knocked out. Pakistan remain the only team to have defended a U19 World Cup title.

The 2020 final had been followed by boorish behaviour from both sides, especially Bangladesh.

Indian captain Priyam Garg had told ESPNCricinfo after the match, "Their reaction was dirty. I think it shouldn't have happened."

"Cricket is known for being a gentleman's game. So I'll say, I'll be sorry for my team," Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali had said.

Son of a CRPF personnel, the Uttar Pradesh-born Ravi Kumar, who has followed footsteps of his illustrious state senior Mohammed Shami to ply his trade for Bengal, ended with excellent figures of 7-1-14-3 in the quarterfinal as Bangladesh were all out for 111 in 37.1 overs.

In reply, India chased down the target in 30.5 overs with opener Angkrish Raghuvanshi's 44 being the top-score. Skipper Yash Dhull scored a chiselled 20 not out and his deputy Shaik Rasheed making 26 as the victory was even more satisfying considering the youngsters came back without any training post recovery from COVID-19.

India will meet Australia in the semi-final on February 2, having won an unprecedented seven out of nine U-19 World Cup quarter-finals.

(With PTI inputs)