Sameer Minhas underlines his early promise with a clutch hundred against India

Dubai, Dec 21 (PTI) Sameer Minhas’ stupendous 172 against India in the U19 Asia Cup final was a validation of the belief in Pakistan cricketing circles that the opener is destined to be a batting star.

His 113-ball knock, which was also the highest ever in the tournament final, helped Pakistan register a 191-run win over India, and clinch their second Youth Asia Cup title.

But it was a moment waiting to happen once his father Kashif Minhas, himself a former U19 cricketer for his nation, understood the talent of Sameer and his elder brother Arafat.

Arafat has already played four T20Is for Pakistan between 2023 and 2024, and the family, moved to Lahore to explore better facilities, has always believed that Sameer would follow suit sooner than later.

Sameer made the cricketing world notice of his rich talent while smashing an unbeaten 177 against Malaysia in a group match on December 12 here.

The next three matches were relatively colourless — 9, 4, 69 not out.

But the right-hander chose the perfect occasion to manifest his talent once more.

However, did he feel any additional pressure because of playing against traditional rivals India in the title clash? "India versus Pakistan is always a big game, but personally, I didn’t feel any extra pressure. I just wanted to play my natural game, and that’s what I focused on,” he said after the match.

His natural game was then on full display at the ICC Academy premises.

The 19-year-old was never in double minds while playing his shots — he lifted pacers to on-side boundaries for regular fours and gave charge to spinners, depositing them in the stands behind the bowlers’ arm with a perpendicular bat.

Pacer Deepesh Devendran, India’s standout bowler in this tournament, was carted around for 52 runs and then plundered 42 runs off 28 balls off off-spinner Kanishk Chouhan.

"It was a good innings for me. I had just one thing on my mind: to score runs for the team and help us put up a big total," said Sameer.

The effort earned him the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards, and his event tally stood at 471 runs at an average of 157 with a strike-rate of 117.45.

Sameer will be seen in action again next month in the ICC U19 World Cup, and, by the look of it, there will be many more appearances. PTI UNG AT AT