India toys with Bangladesh

India and Sri Lanka took contrasting routes to the title clash in the Middle Asia Zone and the lone berth for the 21st FIBA Asia Cup under-18 basketball championship to be held at Sanna'a Yemen.

At the Sree Kanteerava indoor stadium here on Friday evening, India pulverised Bangladesh 91-44 while Sri Lanka had to quell a spirited Nepal 67-54.

Coach Ramkumar could afford to test his bench strength against Bangladesh and tried all the combinations possible. And it worked against a team that lacked a good ball handler. But the Indian defence still looked suspect against speedy counters, though Bangladesh posed little challenge.

Shadab Khan was persisted with and the lanky defender did well picking up rebounds and playing well under the offensive boards too, while the other tall players — Amjyot Singh, Jaskaran and Dishant Shah — all sparkled in patches. Ajay Pratap Singh proved a revelation with his outside shooting as well but a lot will depend on how he fares against tougher opposition.

Leading 20-10 at the end of the first quarter the Indian cagers switched gears in the next to go 42-20 and by the end of the third quarter led handsomely with a 70-28 margin. In the final quarter Ramkumar effected substitutions at random and eased a bit to allow the Bangla boys to get some shots from the wings.

“It did not matter what the margin is. I was testing my bench and am happy with the results. Sri Lanka has both speed and skill with a couple of players doing well. We will change our strategy accordingly and check them,” the unassuming coach said.

Nepal, in the other match, tested and kept pace with Sri Lanka till the end of the third quarter and then seemed to lose steam. After being 49-45 up at the end of the third quarter the Nepalese faded away.

It could muster just five points in the last 10 minutes while the Lankans roared back in fine fashion for a 67-54 win, shooting 22 points in the last quarter.

The results:

India 91 (Arjun Singh 25, Shadab Khan 15, Anant Singh 12, Amjyot Singh 10) bt Bangladesh 44 (Md. Shamsuzzaman Khan Soyab 19, Md. Mahmudul Hasan 10).

Sri Lanka 67 (Udayaga Perera 14, Madushanka Rathnayake 21, Kanishka Perera 10) bt Nepal 54 (Sushil Gurung 13, Sujan Pun 15).