By Srian Obeyesekere
Sri Lanka Under 19 suffered a shock 2-wicket defeat at the hands of UAE U19 who pulled it off with 10 balls to spare in an Under-19 Asia Cup cricket fixture played at Dubai yesterday.
The UAE’s victory was remarkable in that the less fancied side chased down 221 scoring 224 for 8 wickets spearheaded by a superb innings of 75 off 88 balls by wicket keeper Tanis Suri who struck 3 sixes and 4 boundaries. Skipper Aayan Khan too was spot on firing 30 off 50 balls inclusive of 2 boundaries.
Sri Lanka, put into bat, scored 220 for 9 wickets in the alloted 50 overs highlighted by Dinura Kalupahana’s top score of a sedate 56 off 87 with 2 boundaries after his side was on the ropes at 122 for 5 by the 28th over. Skipper Sineth Jayawardena made 49 off 65 with 3 fours and 2 sixes posting 53 for the third wicket with Rusanda Gamage 26 off 39 with 2 boundaries.
CHIEF SCORES:
Sri Lanka U19 220/9 (50 Overs) (Dinura Kalupahana n.o. 56, Pulindu Perera 24, Sineth Jayawardena 49, Rusanda Gamage 26, *, Vishwa Lahiru 26, Omid Rehman 2/48, Aayan Khan 2/38.
UAE U19 224/8 (48.2 Overs) (Aryansh Sharma 19, Tanis Suri 75, Ethan D’ Souza 17, Mahroof Marchant 20, Aayan Khan 33, Ammar Badami n.o. 17, Ayman Ahamed n.o. 10, Garuka Sanketh 3/35)
