Day 14 Talking Points - India end Bangladesh's reign, Ireland see off Zimbabwe in Plate race

India defeat Bangladesh by five wickets and 115 balls remaining

India kept their dreams of a record fifth ICC U19 World Cup title alive, beating rivals Bangladesh by five wickets on Saturday to set up a Super League semi-final clash with fellow giants Australia.

It’s going to be some contest between the two cricketing superpower nations in Antigua on Wednesday, and it’s an eventuality that never looked in serious doubt once the Super League quarter-final between India and Bangladesh got underway.

Excellent bowling performance sets up India win

The first major talking point of the day surrounded the toss, which was won by India who elected to send Bangladesh in. Large totals have at times proved to be tricky to chase down at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, so what sort of score would Bangladesh be looking for to pose problems for the tournament favourites?

In the end, Bangladesh’s hopes of posting a total fell some way short, with India producing another fine collective effort in the field and with the ball to restrict the defending champions to 111 all out in 37.1 overs.

A blistering start from the India attack - led from the front by Ravi Kumar - left Bangladesh reeling at 14/3. It was a perilous situation that they were never able to recover from. Kumar finished with figures of 3/14 from his seven overs, in a talismanic performance for his country.

What might have been for Bangladesh?

India started their modest run chase with most observers expecting them to pass Bangladesh’s total with a minimum of fuss. Their batters had dominated the early weeks of this tournament, and produced several dazzling innings between them during the group stages.

But when Tanzim Hasan Sakib removed Harnoor Singh with India still on nought, hopes of a huge upset were boosted. India then steadied the waters by moving on to 70 for the loss of the early wicket, and with just 42 needed with nine wickets in hand, the writing seemed on the wall for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh fought back in determined fashion to claim four wickets and leave India wobbling slightly at 97/5 - leaving fans wondering what might have been had Bangladesh managed to post another 40 runs to their own total. But Indian captain Yash Dhull guided his team home with just under 20 overs to spare, to set up the mouth-watering clash with Australia on Wednesday, with the prize of a place in the final on the line,

India were not quite at their dazzling best here with the bat, and will need to improve on that when they face Australia. This was largely due to another superb bowling performance from Bangladesh seamer Ripon Mondol, who posted figures of 4/31 from him nine overs - taking his overall tally to 11 wickets, the joint-highest in the tournament so far.

Five wickets for Sherzad sets up Ireland win

A superb five-wicket haul from Muzamil Sherzad was the headline act of Day 14’s clash in the Plate League - with his 5/20 helping to reduce Zimbabwe to 166 all-out.

Ireland bowled superbly at the beginning and end of the Zimbabwe innings, but despite Sherzad’s heroics it was a total that looked enough to provide a decent test for Ireland as they began their run chase in Port of Spain.

However, after a shaky start, which saw Ireland reduced to 10/2, a superb, match-winning partnership between Ireland skipper Tim Tector (76*) and Jack Dickson (78*) saw Ireland cruise to victory in the end.

Was it a performance that marks Ireland down as the team to beat for the remainder of the Plate League matches? On this evidence, it’s hard to see why not.