‘We were 20-30 runs short’: India U19 captain Lakshya Raichandani after defeat against Pakistan

Indian captain Lakshya Raichandani (Image: IANS) India Under-19 captain Lakshya Raichandani admitted his team failed to post a competitive total after Pakistan scored a remarkable three-wicket win in their Men’s Under-19 Asia Cup Group A match in Oman on Sunday. Despite Arjun Rajput’s century of the war, India could not capitalize on a promising recovery, allowing Pakistan to chase down 209 with 11 balls to spare.Pakistan were in serious trouble at 61/5 before Hamza Zahoor produced a match-winning unbeaten 100 off 108 deliveries. His steady knock, supported by Hasnain Abbas Dar’s valuable 38 points, turned the game around and secured Pakistan’s second consecutive win in the tournament.After the match, Raichandani acknowledged that India were at least 20-30 runs short of the competitive total and lamented the lack of partnership around Rajput’s innings.

‘We were 20-30 runs short’: Raichandani admits India’s batting failure

Opting to bat after winning the toss, India suffered an early collapse and were reduced to 42/4. Rajput then took the lead with a brilliant 107, holding the Indian innings together and helping them recover from a difficult position.However, the Indian skipper felt that the team could have added significantly more runs if the next batting stayed with Rajput for longer.“Yes, they weren’t enough. We were 20-30 runs short, but overall there were some good innings from Arjun and a good contribution from KP (Kavya Patel). It was a really good innings and if someone had stayed in there with him (Arjun), it could have been a bit more,” Raichandani said during the post-match presentation.India were eventually bowled out for 208 in 46.3 overs, leaving their bowlers with a target that Pakistan managed to overhaul despite losing five wickets at the start of the chase.

Raichandani admits India could have played better

The Indian skipper also admitted that his bowlers missed the opportunity to finish the job after putting Pakistan under considerable pressure. Pakistan were struggling at 61/5 but Zahoor and Dar combined to rebuild the innings and shift the momentum in their team’s favour. Raichandani felt that India could have been more clinical during this phase.“Yes, for sure. We’ll try to put it right and there were a lot of positives from this game. We’ll try to take it forward. There were some really good efforts. It was 60 to 5. We could have played a bit better but overall it was really good,” he added.