Skipper Yash Dhull hits century as India U-19 pile up mammoth 290/5 vs Australia
Osbourn, Feb 2: Skipper Yash Dhull gave a glimpse of his enormous talent with a superbly-crafted hundred while deputy Shaik Rasheed ideally complemented him with 94 as India scored a mammoth 290 for 5 against Australia in the second semi-final of the ICC U-19 World Cup here on Wednesday.
Dhull (110 off 110) was able to a complete a fine century but Rasheed (94 off 108) fell short of the mark by 6 runs as they added 204 runs for third wicket to pile up a score that might well be beyond Australia's reach.
He also became third Indian captain to hit a hundred in the tournament history after illustrious Virat Kohli and the prodigious Unmukt Chand, also hailing from Delhi.
India opted to put runs on the board after wining the toss, knowing it wasn't the easiest of pitches to bat on.
Australian pacers bowled well in the opening powerplay and the fact that Indian openers Angkrish Raghuvanshi (6 off 30) and Harnoor Singh (16 off 30) were also overtly defensive, helped them build pressure.
William Salzmann rocked Raghuvanshi's off-stump with a beauty that straightened after pitching.
Harnoor, who has not met the high expectations he set for himself, tried to pull a rising ball on leg stump from Tobia Snell only to glove it back to the wicketkeeper, leaving India at 37 for two in the 13th over.
India's two best batters, Dhull and Rasheed, then got together to lift the team out of a spot of bother.
Playing only their third game of the tournament after missing two due to COVID, Rasheed and Dhull showed maturity beyond their age to build the innings.
Dhull got a lot of runs square and behind the square with deft late-cuts off spinners being one of his pet shots.
Rasheed, whose first boundary was an aerial straight drive, ended up eight fours and a six.
The straight six he hit late in his innings off Jack Nisbet took him into the 90s. His punch shot through the cover off Salzmann was the most attractive shot he played.
The highly rated Dhull played another sublime knock. The pitch was on the slower side but he rotated the strike at ease before accelerating to pick boundaries at will, collecting 10 fours and a six in total.
He got to three figures with a two in the 45th over and next ball was a pull shot off Tom Whitney for the second six of the innings.
After Dhull's departure, Rasheed could not get to a deserving hundred after being caught at backward point off Nisbet.
Australia were sloppy in the field through the innings. Rasheed was dropped on 24 and missed an easy run out chance of Dhull who was batting on 74.
With two set batters gone in quick succession, the flow of the innings was slightly disrupted before Nishant Sindhu (12 not out off 10), Dinesh Bana (20 not out off 4 balls) and Rajvardhan Hangagekar (13 off 10) came up with the big shots in the death overs.
The last over from pacer Tom Whitney yielded as many as 27 runs including three sixes and two fours.
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3 convicted for murder of Bengal councillor
Barasat (PTI): A court in West Bengal’s Barrackpore on Monday convicted three people for killing a councillor of Panihati Municipality in North 24 Parganas district.
Sanjib Pandit, Amit Pandit and Ziarul Mandal were convicted by the SDJM Court, Barrackpore, for the murder of Anupam Dutta, councillor of ward number 8 of the civic body in the city’s northern fringes, on March 13, 2022.
The court would declare the quantum of punishment on December 17.
Dutta was shot dead in the crowded Agarpara North Station Road, and his killing led to massive protests in the area in subsequent days.
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Local MLA Nirmal Ghosh had led a series of protests on B T Road and Tentultala More during March 2022, demanding the arrest of the assailants.
Police arrested one person based on CCTV footage, and nabbed two others after interrogating him.
Dutta's wife became the councilor following his death.
A large crowd from his ward, including many waving TMC flags, had on Monday assembled in front of the court premises, demanding strict punishment for the culprits.
