The Indian Under 19 Team registered a thumping 10-wicket victory over Nepal in the final Group A game played at ICC Academy Oval 2 Ground, Dubai on 12th December 2023.
Indian captain Uday Saharan won the toss and decided to field first. The conditions looked good for bowling as there was some seam movement for the pace bowlers. Limbani made use of the conditions getting the early breakthrough dismissing Deepak Bohra. He struck with a lovely delivery to dismiss Uttam Magar.
Limbani then produced a peach to dismiss Dev Khanal making life tough for Nepal batters. He struck off the very next delivery shattering the stumps of Deepak Dumre. His bowling looked too good for Nepal batters as he struck once again getting the wicket of Dipak Bohra with a simple catch to Dhas.
He then got the wickets of Subash Bhandari and finished off with the wicket of Hemant Dhami to bowl out Nepal for just 52 runs. It was an impressive bowling effort by Limbani ending with figures of 7 for 13 in 9.1 overs. Aaradhya Sharma grabbed 2 wickets while Arshin Kulkarni took 1.
Chasing down 53 runs to win, Arshin Kulkarni played with aggressive intent not allowing the Nepal bowlers to settle. Kulkarni remained not out on 43 off 30 deliveries with 1 four and 5 huge sixes. The Indian openers completed the job winning the match by 10 wickets including 257 balls to spare.
With this massive win, the Indian Under 19 team progressed to the semi-finals of the tournament finishing at the top of the points table with 4 points with a better run rate. For his match-winning efforts, Raj Limbani was named the player of the match award.
All You Need to Know About Raj Limbani
Raj Limbani is a right-handed medium-pace bowler who can extract bounce. During the ongoing Asia Cup 2023, he struggled against Pakistan not picking any wickets as Pakistan won the match comfortably.
Limbani showed his bowling abilities in the first match against Afghanistan with 3 for 44 helping India A restrict the opponents to a modest total.
