Pakistan U19 defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in the Super League play-off semi-final in the Under-19 World Cup on Monday to qualify for the fifth-place play-off game against Sri Lanka.
Batting first, Bangladesh slumped to 23 for 3 as fast bowler Awais Ali burst through their top-order. At that stage, Iftakher Hossain (25) and Ariful Islam (100) showed some resistance and took the total to 175.
Pakistan easily hunt down the target with 6 wickets and 21 balls in hand, thanks to Haseebullah’s 79 and Muhammad Shehzad’s 36.
Pakistan defeated, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Papua New Guinea, before being knocked out of the semi-finals race event by Australia in the quarter-final.
They now face resurgent Sri Lanka in the fifth-place play-off on Thursday.
Here is everything you need to know about the game tomorrow:
Match Time and Venue
The two sides will face each other on 3 February at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium in Antigua. The match will be played at 6 pm Pakistan Standard Time (PST).
Where to Watch
PTV Sports and A Sports have telecasted all the matches of the 2022 Under-19 World Cup so far but due to the start of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the two channels will not telecast the match. The fifth-place play-off can be live-streamed on ICC TV for free instead. The match, however, will be aired on Sky Sports which is now available on PTCL’s Smart TV as well.
Head to Head
Pakistan U19 and Sri Lanka U19 have come face to face in the 50-over format on numerous occasions. The two teams have played a total of 41 matches against each other with Pakistan winning 22 and Sri Lanka winning 17 while two games ended without any result.
Similarly, in their last five outings, Pakistan U19 has a slight advantage over Sri Lanka U19 with three wins. Sri Lanka, to their credit, won their last two matches against Pakistan, including the dramatic win in the Asia Cup semifinal where they successfully defended 147 runs.
| Matches | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | |
| Overall | 41 | 22 | 17 |
Possible Playing XIs
Pakistan Under-19 – Mohammad Shehzad, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Abdul Faseeh, Irfan Khan, Qasim Akram (c), Abbas Ali, Ahmed Khan, Maaz Sadaqat, Mehran Mumtaz, Zeeshan Zameer, Awais Ali
Sri Lanka Under-19 – Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Sadisha Rajapaksa, Shevon Daniel, Sakuna Liyanage, Dunith Wellalage (c), Ranuda Somarathne, Vinuja Ranpul, Raveen de Silva, Anjala Bandara (wk), Wanuja Sahan, Treveen Mathew
X-Factors
Both the teams have some outstanding youngsters. Pakistan has had some star performers including Haseebullah Khan, Abdul Faseeh, Qasim Akram, and Awais Ali.
Pakistan’s opener Haseebullah is the sixth-highest scorer in the tournament so far with 244 runs in five games with an average of 61.
Similarly, the ace fast bowler, Awais Ali has been on the mark throughout the tournament. He is currently the third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 wickets at an average of 14.00 in 5 matches. He will be the one to look out for in the high-pulsating encounter.
Sri Lanka, on the flip side, have a top-quality all-rounder in Dunith Wellalage. He is the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 17 wickets in five matches, and 224 runs at an average of 44.80. It would be interesting to see how he fares against Pakistan on Thursday.
