Bangladesh Under-19 team will take on Pakistan at Benoni tomorrow (Saturday) in an important game, which will determine their Under-19 World Cup semifinal.
The last match of the Super Sixes Group-1 for the both of the teams in fact turned out to be virtual quarterfinal. From this Group, India are the only team which had confirmed semifinal. The other two teams-Nepal and Ireland were already eliminated from the race while New Zealand had slight hopes but that relied on many ifs and buts.
Bangladesh also have to face tough calculation, as only a victory won't guarantee them a spot in the semifinal. They in fact would have to win it by big margin, regardless of they opt to bat or bowl first.
Pakistan's convincing victory in the group phases and in their Super Six match helped them to boost their run rate. Bangladesh however had done their job well against Nepal in their Super Six match but still it was not enough to beat Pakistan's run rate. After bowling out Nepal for 169, Bangladesh chased it down to 25.2 overs which made sure that they would reduce the net run rate by some good margin.
Bangladesh, which won the Under-19 World Cup in 2020, started the tournament with an 84-run defeat to India but bounced back in style by beating Ireland (by 6 wickets) and USA (by 121 runs) to confirm the Super Sixes where they beat Nepal by five wickets. Pakistan meanwhile won all of their three matches in the group in convincing margin before edging Ireland past by three wickets in the Super Six.
It will be stern task for Bangladesh because of their Net run Rate (NRR). Pakistan is above Bangladesh in the Super Sixes table. Their NRR is 1.064 while Bangladesh’s NRR is 0.348.
So, the match against Pakistan is all about NRR as Bangladesh not only have to win the match but also have to win it convincingly, keeping NRR in mind.
If Bangladesh bat first, and scored 250 runs, they must have to book their counterpart within 199 runs. The difference would be 51 runs.
Then the NRR would be more than Pakistan (0.001). If Pakistan bat first, and then score 300 runs, Bangladesh should reach the target by 40 overs. So, Young Tigers would be in great trouble if Pakistan bat first.
Toss will be a vital factor for this match. The mathematical equation is very complicated and it is not easy task for Bangladesh to win against the title contenders Pakistan.