Young Tigers eye maiden Asia Cup title

Bangladesh have already ascended to the pinnacle of age-level cricket once, when the young Tigers won the ICC Under-19 World Cup title in 2020 in South Africa.

Today, however, captain Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby and his troops have the opportunity to achieve something that even the World Champions 2020 batch couldn’t do, win the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup title.

Bangladesh Under-19 team will face hosts UAE in the final of the ACC U-19 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium today.

Bangladesh head into the final as favourites, having won all four of their matches so far, which included a comfortable 61-run win over the UAE in their tournament opener.

Despite the earlier victory, age-level selector Hannan Sarkar informed that the young Tigers are wary of the hosts.

“We still have a game left and the boys are focused to deliver their best against the UAE,” Hannan told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.

“Despite the fact that we started off the tournament by beating the UAE, they also played good cricket to reach the final, beating Sri Lankan and Pakistan. So there is no chance to see our opponent lightly as we have to play our best cricket to become the champions,” he added.

The final presents an opportunity to add another silverware in the trophy cabinet of Bangladesh cricket, a prospect that often overshadows the main purpose of age-level cricket in Bangladesh, which is developing cricketers for the future.

Compared to the majority of the top teams around the world, the cricket authority in Bangladesh put a lot of emphasis on winning titles at the age-level, a tendency that stems from the country’s lack of achievements in ICC tournaments over the years at any level.

The current Under-19 cricket team has played a lot of matches together and after some underwhelming results early on, the team has been clinical in the ongoing Asia Cup.

“We have played 25 one-day matches during this period and although we managed to win 11 of those, I think those defeats also helped us to learn from our mistakes,” Hannan said.

The Under-19 team advanced to the knockout stage as group champion, beating the UAE, Japan and Sri Lanka.

Before the semifinal, the team management arranged a virtual session with the Under-19 World Cup winning captain Akbar Ali to share his experience with the players before the big game.

Akbar’s motivation seemingly worked as Bangladesh managed to hold their nerves and went on to beat a strong Indian side by four wickets to reach the final.

Although star batter Ashiqur Rahman Shibli, who hit a century and a couple of half-century in the group-stage, got out cheaply, left-arm pacer Maruf Mridha’s four-for and top-order batter Ariful Islam’s brilliant knock helped Bangladesh complete an easy win.

Whatever the outcome today, the challenge for the think tank would be to ensure these young cricketers get the right direction and improve their skills in order to prepare themselves for the senior level.

Hannan feels that the players are on the right track and the team is in good shape ahead of the upcoming ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa in January.

“There are few players who have shown great maturity and I think the boys are getting in the right shape ahead of the World Cup.”