India’s Under-19 captain Yash Dhull has said that being forced to isolate for almost two weeks after he and several members of the team tested positive for COVID-19 early during the U-19 ICC Cricket World Cup was a very “difficult” phase for everyone, adding that it is now history and he is looking forward to the semifinal clash against Australia.
India defeated Bangladesh by five wickets in the Super League quarterfinal at the Coolidge Cricket Ground here on Sunday (IST) to take sweet revenge for their loss in the final to the neighbours in the 2020 edition of the tournament.
India are aiming to win their fifth U-19 World Cup title and have won four-out-of-four games — three group and the Super League quarterfinal games — so far. They had also won the two warm-up games by huge margins.
“Our team combination is good, which is helping us improve with each passing match. We all try to back each other and if someone has an off day, we try to collectively compensate for it,” said Dhull, who returned to lead the side after missing two games due to COVID-19.
Dhull, vice-captain Shaik Rasheed, Sidharth Yadav, Aaradhya Yadav and Manav Parakh had tested positive for COVID-19 before the Ireland game and India had faced difficulty in fielding a playing eleven on the park in two group matches.
On how it felt coming back to the side after the forced break, Dhull, who hit an unbeaten 20 against Bangladesh, said, “It was difficult, but that is history now. (I’m) Looking forward to the next match… It’s a lifetime experience (to play in the U-19 World Cup).
“We came into this match with a positive mind-set; everyone executed his work on the field (today) and the results we are getting are all because of that,” added Dhull.
Defending champions Bangladesh were no match for the Indian bowlers, especially left-arm pacer Ravi Kumar (3/14) and the reliable left-arm spinner Vicky Ostwal (2/25) as they did not allow the opponents’ batters score freely, maintaining a miserly economy rate and bundling them out for 111 in 37.1 overs.
In reply, India hoped for a comfortable run chase but they got off to a poor start when Bangladesh bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib removed opener Harnoor Singh for a duck. Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44) and Shaik Rasheed (26) put on 70 for the second wicket to seemingly secure victory, but Bangladesh threatened a late comeback.
Captain Dhull finally came to the crease and smashed four boundaries to soothe the nerves and guide his time into the semifinals.
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