KARACHI Pakistani junior cricketers gave great boost to national pride when they defeated defending champions India in the quarter-final of the Junior World Cricket Cup in New Zealand and provided an opportunity for the nation to celebrate the occasion. Two-wicket victory that Azeem Ghumman led Pakistani juniors recorded over defending champions on Saturday suddenly lifted the gloom that had blanketed cricket after poor performance of the seniors in down under and recent happenings across the border in the IPL auction where some of worlds dazzling stars were intentionally ignored under a well thought and laid plan to humiliate Pakistan which has contributed to cricket what no other country had ever been able to do. Students, office goers, man in the street and some top executives when contacted to comment on victory carved out under difficult and pressure filled atmosphere, with one voice hailed the triumph adding that Pakistan junior had proved Pakistan could produce world beaters both at senior and junior level and take up the challenges by the horn. Some of those who skipped going to school and office to see truncated action live believed the victory had done huge good to Pakistani nation who had felt insulted after when the eight franchises in the IPL did not bid even for Pakistani players like Shahid Afridi and pacer Umar Gul - the top class players of T20 cricket. The victory had proved that Pakistani nation could show greater commitment and solidarity to challenge opponents whenever there was an attempt to degrade Pakistan. Former PCB CEO Arif Ali Khan Abbasi termed the victory as positive development and said it would be great embarrassment to that mischief making elements in the BCCI or elsewhere in India who had tried to run the Pakistani cricketers down in the IPL auction. Pakistani juniors had done a wonderful job until now. Pakistanis have emerged as top run-getters and top wicket-takers, he added. He hoped that Pakistani team would continue to do well till they clinch the trophy which would only enhance national pride. Muhammad Abid, an IT engineer commenting on the triumph, said it should not taken in narrow nationalistic view but instead in sporting view where a better team clinched the day through better performances. But one could not escape the reality of the past two days in which Pakistani cricket was taken for a ride and insulted at the IPL auction. It is true that the IPL was a private venture and the eight franchises are owned by private companies but one was forced to interpret the event when no single Pakistani from the eleven under the hammer failed to win a bid from the rich franchise. If there was a conspiracy to keep Pakistanis out of the IPL, the Pakistani junior team in a fair and sporting manner had provided answers to those controversies. Though it was just a quarter-final event of junior level but it attracted the same importance seen during the T20 world cup final or the ODI world cup final many years ago in Melbourne. People waited for the match to start after it was interrupted by rain and bad light and finally when the action came live on TV screen, they were praying for teams victory which came with the blessings of the Allah Almighty and the good work of the players, commented an avid cricket fan. SCOREBOARD INDIA U-19s innings (23 overs maximum) Kannaur b Fayyaz Butt 0 Agarwal c Waqas b Fayyaz 2 Mandeep c Sarmad b Hammad 40 Harpreet c Waqas b Sarmad 14 Menaria c Fayyaz b Raza 15 Shaikh c Rameez b Raza 6 Sharma c Ghumman b Fayyaz 16 GA Jathar c Waqas b Fayyaz 6 Netravalkar c Ahsan b Raza 2 Sandeep Sharma not out 3 JD Unadkat not out 0 EXTRAS: (b 5, lb 2, w 3) 10 TOTAL: (9 wickets; 23 overs) 114 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Kannaur, 0.1 ov), 2-3 (Agarwal, 0.5 ov), 3-43 (Harpreet Singh, 9.6 ov), 4-72 (Menaria, 16.4 ov), 5-84 (Mandeep Singh, 17.6 ov), 6-87 (Shaikh, 18.5 ov), 7-109 (Manan Sharma, 21.5 ov), 8-109 (Jathar, 21.6 ov), 9-113 (Netravalkar, 22.5 ov) BOWLING Fayyaz Butt 4-0-27-4-6.75 Sarmad 5-0-12-1-2.40-(1w) Hammad Azam 5-0-25-1-5.00 Babar Azam 4-0-17-0-4.25 Raza Hasan 5-0-26-3-5.20(1w) PAKISTAN Under-19s (target: 115 runs from 23 overs) Babar b Sandeep Sharma 6 Shehzad c Shaikh b Netravalkar 5 Ahsan run out (Shaikh) 30 Ghumman c Harpreet b Unadkat 1 Rameez c Harpreet b Unadkat 28 Hammad not out 21 Waqas c Agarwal b Menaria 9 Usman Qadir run out (Unadkat) 7 Sarmad c Agarwal b Sandeep 3 Raza Hasan not out 0 EXTRAS: (lb 1, w 6) 7 TOTAL: (8 wkts; 22.3 overs) 117 Did not bat: Fayyaz Butt Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Babar Azam, 2.4 ov), 2-11 (Ahmed Shehzad, 3.5 ov), 3-16 (Azeem Ghumman, 6.1 ov), 4-71 (Ahsan Ali, 16.4 ov), 5-78 (Rameez Aziz, 18.1 ov), 6-97 (Mohammad Waqas, 20.4 ov), 7-105 (Usman Qadir, 21.3 ov), 8-113 (Sarmad Bhatti, 22.2 ov) BOWLING Sandeep Sharma 4.3-0-24-2 SN Netravalkar 5-1-16-1 JD Unadkat 5-1-26-2 GA Jathar 2-0-12-0 Manan Sharma 3-0-23-0 AL Menaria 3-0-16-1 Results: Pakistan Under-19s won by two wickets Toss: Pakistan Under-19s Umpires: HDPK Dharmasena and BNJ Oxenford TV umpire: NA Malcolm (West Indies) Match referee: J Srinath (India) Reserve umpire: Kettleborough