India U-19 left-arm pacer Ravi Kumar was at his very best in the ICC U-19 World Cup 2022 Super League Quarterfinal on Saturday (January 29). Kumar delivered an excellent opening burst in the knock-out match against defending champions Bangladesh, which turned it into a no-contest at the very beginning. The 18-year-old pacer bagged as many […]
India U-19 left-arm pacer Ravi Kumar was at his very best in the ICC U-19 World Cup 2022 Super League Quarterfinal on Saturday (January 29).
Kumar delivered an excellent opening burst in the knock-out match against defending champions Bangladesh, which turned it into a no-contest at the very beginning.
The 18-year-old pacer bagged as many as three wickets in his first spell of the match, running through the Bangladeshi top-order to bag figures of 3 for 14.
Ravi Kumar’s brilliant exhibition of swing with pace proved too good for the Bangladesh U-19 batters. Providing his team early momentum into the contest, the pacer spurred on the rest of the Indian bowling attack and laid the foundation to his team’s easy win.
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Ravi Kumar (middle) bowled a superb spell in the U-19 World Cup Quarterfinals. pic courtesy: Twitter
Through his impactful and encouraging spell, Ravi Kumar also invoked the yet-fresh memories of watching former left-arm speedster Irfan Pathan bowl at his very best.
The ‘banana swing’ that people associated with Irfan all those years back was also in display when Kumar rolled his arms over against Bangladesh U-19s.
With one such delivery, he got right-hander Mohammad Mahfijul Islam out bowled, reminding everyone of Irfan’s own famous dismissal of Pakistan right-hander Mohammad Yusuf, part of his famous hat-trick in the Karachi Test of 2006.
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Mohammad Mahfijul Islam bowled out by Ravi Kumar and Bangladesh U19 at 3/1.#U19CWC2022 | #INDU19vBANU19 pic.twitter.com/3JqwXZiPIK
— ICC Media (@ICCMedia) January 29, 2022
Coincidentally, this dismissal came on the very day that Irfan enjoyed one of his finest hours on a cricket field, taking a perfect trio at the National Stadium in Pakistan against the home team. Apart from Yusuf, Irfan also got the wickets of left-hander Salman Butt and the great Younis Khan in his hat-trick.
The initial journey of Irfan should inspire Ravi Kumar a lot. The former left-arm pacer was also the product of India’s U-19 set-up as he stood-out with his performances in the 2002 U-19 World Cup and made his India debut a year later.
