Young Tigers need more than a win against Pakistan

Bangladesh's final Super Sixes match against Pakistan in the ongoing ICC Under-19 World Cup turns out to be a virtual quarterfinal, with the young Tigers needing more than just a win at Willowmoore Park in Benoni today. 

Having beaten Nepal by a comprehensive margin of five wickets with 148 balls to spare in their first Super Sixes encounter, Bangladesh sit third behind India and Pakistan in Group 1. 

While the big margin win over Nepal kept the young Tigers in the hunt for a semifinal spot, they still need a comprehensive win in today's game to go through. 

"There's an equation at play here concerning our net run-rate, so we will have to play with that in the back of our minds," mentioned Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby, Bangladesh Under-19 skipper, on the eve of the game yesterday.  

Both defending champions India and Pakistan are unbeaten in the tournament, with India confirming their spot in the last four as they finished Super Sixes Group 1 with eight points following a whopping 132-run victory over Nepal yesterday.      

Pakistan, who also have six points, possess a better net run-rate (+1.064) than Bangladesh, who have four points and a net run-rate of +0.348, meaning that just a win for Pakistan today would be enough to see them through. 

However, a loss to Pakistan -- or even a narrow victory -- will see Bangladesh miss out on a semifinal berth.

Rabby mentioned instead of sweating over the run-rate equation, his troops will first try to get the main job done.  

"But first, we need to win this game. If we can't win this game then there is no point thinking about run-rate. So, we will follow our process and then just follow any directives given by the management," Rabby added.