Mumbai, Dec 21 Pakistan's Under-19 batter Sameer Minhas fulfilled a childhood dream as he hammered a brilliant 172 off 113 balls to help his team defeat archrivals India by a massive 191-run margin in the final and won the Under-19s Asia Cup title in Dubai on Sunday.
When Sameer Minhas picked up the bat at nine, he always dreamt of scoring big in a major final, and on Sunday, his dream came true with his belligerent knock, a report said on Sunday.
Minhas' 113-ball knock, studded with nine sixes and 17 boundaries, lifted Pakistan to an imperious 347/8 before their pace trio of Ali Raza, Abdul Subhan, and Mohammad Sayyam shared eight wickets between them to skittle out India for a meagre 156 in 26.2 overs to give Pakistan a big win.
Minhas comes from a cricketing family with his elder brother Arafat having played four T20Is for Pakistan and father Kashif, a good club-level cricketer in Multan.
"It was my childhood dream to do something memorable in cricket, and I am happy that I have done the first memorable thing with this hundred, which will remain memorable throughout my career, and the icing on the cake is that I did it against India," Minhas was quoted as saying by Telecom Asia Sport (www.telecomasia.net).
This was Pakistan's seventh win over India in 11 outings at the Junior level since 2019. It was also an encore of the Champions Trophy in 2017, where Pakistan lost the group match but went on to win the title with an 180-run win in the final.
Minhas, who was adjudged the Player of the Match for the final and the Player of the Tournament, said the Asia Cup win was discussed on the eve of the final. "Sarfaraz Sir mentioned this and made us believe in our ability that we can beat the Indian team," he told www.telecomasia.net.
According to the report, Minhas did not feel any extra pressure of playing against India. "We played them before in the tournament, so there was no pressure, and when they put us in to bat, we were happy that if we managed to put a good total, they would be under pressure."
The report also said that on Sunday, the Multan house of Minhas was buzzing since morning as the family was expecting a good show from their boy.
"Yes, we were expecting some fireworks from Minhas, and I am proud that my son has played a key role in the team's win over India," Kashif Minhas, father of Minhas, told Telecom Asia Spot. "You know a win against India gives us four hundred per cent delight."
Kashif raised his sons with hard work and honesty, having been involved in the selling business, mangoes exporter, as well as dealing in traditional Multan halwa (sweet), the report said.
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