India U19 Beat Pakistan by 1 Wicket off the Last Ball: Mohit Ulva, No. 10, Wins the Asia Cup

Last December Pakistan beat India by 191 runs in this final. Six days ago they beat them again, by three wickets, in the group stage. On Saturday at Al Amerat, Pakistan made 337, had India 252 for 8, and needed two more wickets with 86 runs in the bank. They did not get the second one.

Mohit Ulva, picked as a bowler and batting at No. 10, made 49 not out off 26 balls. With three needed off the last ball of the match he came down the pitch to the leg-spinner Ahmed Hussain and hit it wide of long-off for four. India U19 won by one wicket, with no balls left, and took the U19 Asia Cup for a record-extending ninth time.

For 44 overs Pakistan were heading for something close to 370. Usman Khan made 107 off 111 balls, and Abdul Qadir hit eight sixes in his 80 off 54; the two put on 135 for the second wicket. Captain Farhan Yousaf added 63, and at the start of the 45th over the score was 299 for 3.

India's bowlers then took the game back an over at a time. Chigurupati Venkata, who bowled only five overs, removed Yousaf and finished with 3 for 40. Kavya Paresh Patel took 4 for 68. Six wickets fell for 37 runs, the last ten overs brought only 63, and Pakistan finished on 337 for 9. Those 30 or so missing runs were the match.

Captain Lakshya Raichandani and Aaryavir Sehwag opened with 95 in 17.4 overs. Sehwag made 58 off 61 with nine fours; Raichandani batted through to 80. At 172 for 2 after 30 overs the chase was on schedule.

Then it fell apart. Rizwanullah took three wickets, two fell on successive balls at 217, and when Kavya Patel went for a duck India were 252 for 8 in the 42nd over, needing 86 from 51 balls with the bowlers at the crease.

Manal Chauhan and Mohit Ulva did not block. They added 57 in less than six overs, Chauhan making 47 off 32 with three sixes. When he was caught in the 48th over India still needed 29 from 16 balls, with one wicket left. Chigurupati Venkata walked out to join Ulva.

India needed 25 from the last two overs. Ulva hit the first ball of the 49th, from Mohammad Sayyam, through the covers for four and the second over long-off for six. Venkata edged another four. Seventeen came from the over, and the equation was eight from six balls.

Ahmed Hussain bowled the 50th. A dot ball, with a stumping appeal. A wide. Then four singles in a row, each one a small heart attack, which left three to win from the final delivery. Ulva charged, got to the pitch of it and drove it wide of long-off. It bounced once and crossed the rope. India 339 for 9.

Pakistan had also been made to keep an extra fielder inside the circle from the 46th over as a slow over-rate penalty, and India took 91 from the last ten overs. Pakistan's last ten had gone for 63.

Ulva came into this side as a medium-pacer, and with the ball he had a hard day: eight overs, 57 runs, no wicket. With the bat he made 49 not out off 26 balls, five fours and three sixes, and scored 18 of the 30 runs the last pair needed. A No. 10 winning a final against Pakistan with a four off the last ball is the kind of thing a player gets asked about for the rest of his career.

The players ran onto the field the moment the ball crossed the rope, and the celebrations in front of the Pakistan side were loud and long, as Free Press Journal reported; the two teams did not shake hands at the toss or after the match.

At home the win was greeted like a senior title. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it an "outstanding day for Indian cricket" in a post on X, ANI reported. The Statesman reported congratulations from President Droupadi Murmu, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, with Ganguly picking out Aaryavir Sehwag, whose father Virender also congratulated the side.

The scorecard says Ulva won it, and he did. But the match turned on two ten-over blocks. Pakistan scored 63 for 6 in their last ten; India scored 91 for 3 in theirs. A side that is 299 for 3 after 44 overs and finishes on 337 has left the door open, and India's lower order walked through it.

The other number worth keeping is Aaryavir Sehwag's: 361 runs in five innings, the most in the tournament. India lost to this Pakistan side twice in eleven months before Saturday. They beat them when it counted, from a position where most senior teams would have lost.