Bangladesh Under-19s won the toss and elected to bat first in the first semi-final match of the ICC Under-19 World Cup against West Indies on Thursday (11 February) at Sher-e-Bangla stadium at Mirpur in Dhaka Dhaka.

‘A charged up Bangladesh Under-19 team will face a changed West Indies Under-19. Bangladesh U19s have marched on to the Semi-final stage being undefeated, while West Indies U19s suffered a single defeat to the young English Lions in the Group stage. West Indies was almost on the verge of getting avoided for advancement to the Quarter-finals by Zimbabwe U19s, but the spirited Caribbean boys managed their way into it and then defeated one of the favourites for the Trophy, Pakistan U19, on their way to the Semi-finals’, reports tigercricket.com.bd.

Bangladesh U19s is playing the first ever Semi-final for their country in an ICC Global event.

‘Skipper Mehidy Hassan did mention, ‘We are not satisfied yet,’ and they want to grab the opportunity of qualifying to the Final.’

‘Bangladesh got through to the Semi-final with a tremendous confidence boosting win. They were in a pressure situation at one stage, losing four wickets inside 100 runs, but the skipper himself was there along with wicket-keeper batsman Zakir to steer the team to a wonderful win, without losing further wickets. The temperament, the professionalism these two showed in the middle was way beyond expectation from the crowd, but well expected by their team-mates.’

‘West Indies on the other hand have announced themselves ready to face off the sin attack from Bangladesh.’

Skipper Shimron Hetmyer did mention this bit, ‘We have played enough spin in the nets and we are quite ready to face their spin.’

‘The same team played Bangladesh U19s in a three-match Youth ODI Series just before the ICC U19CWC started and lost all of them, failing badly to spin bowling of the Young Tigers.’

Bangladesh Under-19s Team

Pinak Ghosh, Saif Hassan, Joyraz Sheik, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mehedi Hasan Miraz*, Zakir Hasan†, Mohammad Saifuddin, Saeed Sarkar, Mosabbek Hossain, Mehedi Hasan Rana, Saleh Ahmed Shawon, Jaker Ali, Ariful Islam, Shafiul Hayet, Abdul Halim

West Indies Under-19s Team

GD Pope, TA Imlach†, SO Hetmyer*, KU Carty, SK Springer, JU Goolie, KMA Paul, MO Frew, RD John, AS Joseph, CK Holder, OF Smith, EWJ Stewart, SP Crooks, KA Kallicharan