U-19 World Cup: Namibia go down to Bangladesh, to meet India in quarters

Bangladesh U-19 team will face Nepal in the quarter-final. (Source: ICC)

Group D toppers India will face Namibia in the quarterfinals after the African team finished second in Group A following an eight-wicket loss against Bangladesh In Dhaka on Tuesday.

India, who won its all three matches in the group stage, takes on Namibia in the last eight match in Fatullah on Saturday.

Namibia had knocked defending champion South Africa out of the competition.

Bangladesh topped Group A with a demolition of Namibia, ending the match in Cox’s Bazar in one session itself.

Namibia was dismissed for 65 in 32.5 overs after being sent into bat by Bangladesh with Saleh Ahmed, skipper Mehidy Hasan and Ariful Islam claiming two wickets each.

Bangladesh lost Pinak Ghosh in the first over, but an unbeaten 34 from Joyraz Sheik steered the host to an easy victory in the 16th over.

The host ended the league with three successive wins and will now play surprise qualifier Nepal in the first quarter-final in Mirpur on Friday.

Saleh said the comfortable victory had made him and the rest of the team hungry for more.

“We not only want to defeat Nepal in the quarter-final, but also win the semi-final and the final. We want to be the world champion,” he said.

Namibia captain Zane Green rued his team’s bad batting but vowed to put up a better show against India.

“It was not our best batting performance and a total of 65 was always going to be too little to defend,” he said.

“We should have added at least 100 more runs to make it competitive. But we will stay positive against India and will not back down.”