DHAKA: Cricketers of the future the promising teenagers of eight countries which includes two associate member countries Namibia and Nepal will work out from today which countries will finally fight out the coveted trophy.

If form, fitness and quality of cricket mirrors the prospect host Bangladesh, very strong India, England and always-unpredictable Pakistan are firm favorites to feature as top four.

It will be suicidal to underestimate West Indies and Sri Lanka. One must not completely write off dark horses Nepal and Namibia - two surprise packages of the tournament.

The quality of cricket played so far was extraordinary. Some brilliant individual performances --excellently aggressive batting, great bowling and outstanding catches have already made the tournament one the best ever played.

There were no cause of security concern. So far so good the tournament so far disproved the concerns of the strong cricketing nation Australia considering security threat as an excuse for pulling their champion  potential teenage team from the tournament.

The quarterfinal kicks off in haft an hour from now with tournament favorite host Bangladesh playing SAARC neighbor Nepal. Bangladesh cruised to the last eight crashing reigning champion South Africa, ICC associates Scotland and Namibia in three virtually one-sided matches.

Nepal on the other land surprised New Zealand and Ireland through brilliant team efforts .But they failed to create much of a contest against another tournament favorite India. The match of two friendly SAARC neighbors is expected to ignite flashes or fire.

Quarter Finals
Bangladesh Vs Nepal
India Vs Namibia
England Vs Sri Lanka
Pakistan Vs West Indies

Reigning Champion South Africa, strong New Zealand and ICC full member team Zimbabwe failed to make the top eight. Australia pulled out quoting threat to the Australian interests in Bangladesh.

The quality of cricket that Nepal and Namibia played evidenced the growth of quality cricket and advancement of cricket in ICC associate countries over the past few years.

This must make ICC rethink the globalization cricket, which used to be the brainstormed in not too distant past. It is great that ICC is thinking away with the concept of Three Cricketing Super Powers Australia, England and India dominating ICC.

It has to created level playground for all test-playing countries. It must also created smooth graduation of consistently better playing ICC associate countries into full membership. There must not be any elite panels of Three Musketeers in World Cricket.

Quarter Finals: Host Bangladesh, strong India and England are the three outstanding teams of the tournament. Two other sub continental teams Pakistan and Sri Lanka are also not too far behind.

It was also very encouraging that 5 South Asian nations have qualified among the top eight. Nepalese youth surprised many with great quality cricket.

Such performance also evidenced that ACC was doing great works in the reason and the closing down of ACC activities was not a well thought decision.

What Bangladesh Can Do?

Host Bangladesh is one of the firm favorites. In the past Bangladesh failed to go beyond the quarterfinal level. The home side has been playing outstanding cricket for some time.

In the recent past they won series against reigning Champions South Africa at home and abroad, won series against Sri Lanka and white washed West Indies.

They have some potential world class players in Nazmul Hasan Shanto ( the highest scorer in Under 19 category ) and Mehedi Hasan Miraj ( quality all-rounder ) , the highest wicket taker in this category.

They have are top form. These two are also backbone of Bangladesh batting. Shanto appears to all a class act. He looks matured with sound technique, great temperament and good skills. He is confidence personified and has proved as a very dependable batsman.

Miraj is an outstanding all-rounder, good stroke maker. He can change gears when required and can rotate strikes to keep the scoreboard ticking. Santo and Miraj at number four and five are the nucleus of Bangladesh batting.

Pinak Ghosh and Joyraj Sheik at top order are strong top order batsmen with Saif Hasan making ideal blend of quality and class. While Pinak and Joyraj has aggressive Caribbean calypso flairs in their batting Saif is a cool customer.

50 Overs cricket is not merely throwing the bat at everything. Someone at the top has to hold the innings together. We think that the top five batsmen of Bangladesh are their driving force of Bangladesh under 19 who are expected to give the team a good enough score to defend with top quality spin attack and not too bad new ball bowling strength.

The way the tiger spinners crashed Namibia in the third match of the group must have sent the rest of the remaining 7 teams a strong warning. Mehedi, Shawon Arif and Saeed with a slight assistance from the wicket can make batsmen dance to their tune.

Spin is going to play a major role as the tournament goes deeper. Halim and Saifuddin are also good enough pace bowlers for getting early break through.

Nepal must not be considered as a mere push over. The Nepalese youth has reached this stage playing outstanding cricket against strong New Zealand and Ireland. They did not look completely outclassed against tournament favorite India also.

Bangladesh has to play out of its skins to get over and across very enthusiastic Nepalese teenagers.

The batting looks a bit thinner than their bowling. Nepalese have shown deep energy and courage in their three matches. But perhaps the break in winning momentum and very strong and eager home side against them in the quarter final will draw curtain for them. But never know. Nepal must not be taken for guaranteed. Bangladesh has to play well to get across.

Bangladesh if it wins may possibly play against England if English teenagers get the better of Lankan Leos. England is one of the better teams of the tournament feature few quality batsmen and good pace attack. But they were not much tested in the tournament so far against quality spin attack.

Wickets in Dhaka gets slower and lower providing assistance to the spinners as tournament progresses. England Bangladesh semifinal may bring the memories of Adelaide Oval returning to Shere Bangla National Stadium (The home of Royal Bengal Tigers). But that is a matter of the future.

First Bangladesh has to send the brave Nepalese back home and England has to get the better of Lankans.  Till then let us keep our fingers crossed and keep hoping against the hope.

BDST: 0832  HRS, Feb 05, 2016
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