2018 under-19 World Cup: Five reasons why India beat Bangladesh in the quarter-final

India beat Bangladesh by 131 runs in their 2018 under-19 World Cup quarter-final clash in the in Queenstown and sealed their place in the semi-final where they will face their arch-rivals Pakistan on January 30.

Shubman Gill was the star of the show with the bat yet again as he scored 86 and was well backed by Abhishek Sharma (50) and Prithvi (40). After posting 265 runs on the board, it was always a tricky second half for the Indians but Prithvi Shaw and his men came out on top, thanks to some brilliant bowling and fielding.

Indian pacers set up the match for India with some fantastic spell of bowling and their acrobatic fielding. Kamlesh Nagarkoti was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Shivam Mavi and Abhishek Mavi accounted for two wickets apiece.

Let us take a look at five reasons why India won the match and booked a place in the semis.

Bangladesh's middle-order collapse:

When Bangladesh were still in the game in the middle of their innings, some good work by the Indian players on the field turned the game in favour of them in a matter of just four overs. Bangladesh were 76/2 after 22 overs and looked threatening to take the game away from India. But, the Indians kept piling on the pressure and that resulting in the implosion of Bangladeshi middle-order.

Opener Pinak Ghosh, who was the set batsman with 43 runs, tried to slog sweep Anukul Roy and ended up getting caught by Ishan Porel at short fine-leg. It was when the Bangladeshi batsmen pressed the panic button as Towhid Hridoy, who looked good in his brief stay at the crease, was run out by Shivam Mavi and in the very next over, Bangladesh's last recognised batsman Aminul Islam ran himself out in the next over, thanks to some good work by Kamlesh Nagarkoti in the field.

India have claimed three wickets in quick succession to reduce Bangladesh to 85/5 - can the Tigers recover? #U19CWC #INDvBAN LIVE ➡️ https://t.co/o7894eFF6l pic.twitter.com/OqYQ6soJHQ

— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) January 26, 2018

Thanks to the pressure built by the Indian bowlers and fielders, the Bangladesh batsmen were forced to take risks to keep the scorecard ticking and eventually, lost some wickets.

Pacers' initial outburst

Defending a target of 265 is always tricky in a 50-over match and the Indian team needed a good start with the ball. A good start is not only about taking 2-3 early wickets but also about keeping the opposition batsmen at bay at the start of the innings. That's exactly what the Indian pacers did as they didn't give away anything for the Bangladesh batsmen and kept things under control from ball one.

The Bangladesh openers had no clue against the pace at which Shivam Mavi bowled and the swing his new-ball partner Ishan Porel generated. Failure to score runs put pressure on the batsmen and Mohammad Naim perished when he tried to clear the infield and was caught by Prithvi Shaw at mid-off off the bowling of Shivam Mavi. Bangladesh were 228/1 after the first 10 overs.

Things got worse for the Tigers as Prithvi Shaw introduced his fastest bowler Kamlesh Nagarkoti and the Rajasthan pacer was bang on target right from the beginning. He continued the good work done by Shivam and Ishan and sent back Bangladesh skipper Saif Hassan for 12 as the batsman was beaten for pace and was caught in the slip cordon.

Though Nagarkoti and Shivam took wickets in their first spell, it was Ishan who was brilliant as he gave away just eight runs in his five overs. In the first 20 overs, the pacers bowled 15 and gave away just 42 runs for two wickets.

Top-notch fielding

After doing the job with the ball, the Indian pacers contributed to the team's success in the field as well. When the game was wide open, Bangladesh batsman Towhid Hridoy hit the ball towards the point region and took off for a single before he was sent back by his partner.

Shivam Mavi, who was guarding the backward region, attacked the ball, picked it up with his right hand, took aim and hit the bullseye with the batsman well short at the striker's end. In the next over, Shivam's fellow pacer from Rajasthan, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, showed his own fielding skills as he effected yet another run out to dismiss Aminul Islam and reduce Bangladesh to 85/5. Batsman Afif Hossain nudged the ball to the square leg region and took off for a single. But, Nagarkoti had other plans as he dived to his right, picked up the ball, threw it to the keeper when he was in the air and Harvik Desai collected it cleanly to catch Aminul just short of his crease.

Apart from the run outs, the ground fielding was also brilliant as the Indian fielders backed their bowlers with some fantastic fielding throughout the match.

Shubman Gill's knock that kept India going

For the first time in the tournament, the Indian openers failed to put on at least 50 runs for the first wicket as they lost left-hander Manjot Kalra for just 9 with the scorecard reading 16/1 after 3.3 overs.

Middle-order batsman Shubman Gill, who has amassed 930 runs in 12 innings at an average of over 103 at this level, walked into bat. He looked good right from the first ball he faced and wasted no time in taking on the Bangladesh bowlers. The straight drive and cover drive he played off Hasan Mahmud and Qazi Onik early on in his innings had class written all over it.

He kept the scorecard ticking by rotating the strike and hit some boundaries in-between. He reached his third half-century in as many innings in this tournament with a push to the mid-wicket fielder.

Watch the highlights of Shubman Gill's impressive 86 against Bangladesh!▶️ https://t.co/jCUVv6oTuz#INDvBAN #U19CWC pic.twitter.com/vrbjb66paU

— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) January 26, 2018

He looked set for a well-deserved century but he was dismissed for 86 off 94 balls with nine fours in an unfortunate manner as a Nayeem Hasan delivery took the under-edge of his bat and was caught cleanly by wicketkeeper Mahidul Islam, who was stumping up to the stumps.

When he got out, his Youth ODI record read 1016 runs in 13 innings at an average of 101.60 and the right-hander from Punjab created history by becoming the first batsman to score 1000 runs at this level at an average of over 100.

Abhishek Sharma's all-round efforts

When Gill was dismissed off the last ball of the 36th over, he was replaced by his Punjab teammate Abhishek Sharma. The 17-year-old took his time initially before switching on gears. When Riyan Parag was dismissed in the 44th over, India lost wickets in a heap but the left-hander stood firm and took India to a decent total. He hit six boundaries in his knock of 50 off 49 balls and made sure that India crossed 250 with ease.

He continued his good work in the field and with the ball as he took two difficult catches at slip and accounted for two wickets conceding just 11 runs in the five overs he bowled.

Abhishek's late blitz with the bat gave India some momentum coming into the field and his two wickets which included the all-important wicket of Afif Hossain sealed the match in favour of India.