Bangladesh bowled out Australia and won by eight runs in one of the most exciting matches of the ICC Under-19 World Cup and claimed the Plate Championship on Thursday.
Over 15,000 fans provided continuous vocal support to the rhythm of beating drums and it helped lift the home side to a memorable victory.
Left-arm spinner Enamul Haque won the match for his side with two wickets in the final over. He finished with 5 for 31 as Australia fell eight runs short of a victory that had looked within their grasp.
Throughout the tournament Bangladesh have bowled well but struggled with the bat. Before today's match both their coach Richard McInnes and captain Ashikur Rahman said that they would need to improve this aspect of their game to stand a chance of beating Australia.
Rahman had asked his batsmen to target over 250 and after winning the toss and electing to bat he wasn't disappointed.
Nafees Iqbal and Naeem Islam got Bangladesh off to a dream start, putting on 124 for the first wicket before Iqbal was caught and bowled by Stephen O'Keefe for 59.
Islam continued till 66 before he was bowled by Aussie skipper Tim Paine with the score on 152.
Aftab Ahmed ensured Bangladesh remained on course with a well-paced 57 so that with 10 overs to go they were 204 for 2 and looking at a total towards 280.
Australia fought back in the closing overs, restricting Bangladesh to 257 for 9 at the close with five different bowlers picking up wickets.
No side in this tournament has successfully chased over 250 and at 108 for 5 in the 27th over Australia looked unlikely to challenge this fact.
But then Ahillen Beadle and Stephen O'Keefe rallied Australia as Bangladesh's bowlers began to show signs of nerves. They both passed fifty to tilt the balance in Australia's favour but then three run-outs in four balls changed the match.
It plunged Australia from 233 for 5 to 235 for 8 and 23 runs were required from 15 balls.
Haque held his nerve in the final over to take two wickets and wrap up a sensational victory for the home side with Australia all out for 249.
Bangladesh coach Richard McInnes was pleased with the victory but warned that his side still needs to improve.
"Once we realized we weren't going to make it to the Super League we wanted to make sure we won the Plate Championship," said McInnes.
"To be honest I thought we should have scored more runs than we did, but 180 for 2 was a new situation for us and we will learn from it for the future.
"At one stage it looked like it might be a repeat of the New Zealand game and in the middle overs we didn't bowl well but I'm pleased to say that this time we managed to win the match with some very good fielding and bowling at the death."
Australia coach Bennett King praised the home side.
"Congratulations to Bangladesh, they played well. It was a high pressure situation and it could have gone either way and on this occasion we lost the match," said King.
"We have several promising players but they've still got a lot to learn."
The trophies were presented by Bangladesh Sports Minister Md Fazlur Rahman MP.
Fixtures:
The Super League final will be a day/night match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on March 5 between Pakistan and West Indies.
Bangladesh Under-19
Nafis Iqbal c & b O'Keefe 59
Naeem Islam c Crosthwaite b Paine 66
Aftab Ahmed st Crosthwaite b Beadle 57
Nazimuddin b Beadle 18
Dhiman Ghosh c Beadle b Henriques 6
Abul Bashar run out 5
Nadif Chowdhury b Henriques 11
Ashiqur Rahman run out 8
Nazmul Hossain c sub (S Wallace) b Mangan 2
Enamul Haque jnr not out 3
Shahadat Hossain not out 1
Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 15, nb 2) 21
Total (9 wickets, 50 overs) 257
FOW: 1-124, 2-152, 3-204, 4-215, 5-225, 6-229, 7-247, 8-252, 9-253
Bowling: Coyte 5-0-24-0, Putland 6-0-24-0, Mangan 6-0-39-1, Henriques 10-0-47-2, O'Keefe 10-0-55-1, Paine 8-0-38-1, Beadle 5-0-26-2
Australia Under-19
TP Doropoulos b Shahadat Hossain 5
KJ Skewes b Enamul Haque jnr 32
MM Harrison run out 29
M Henriques b Enamul Haque jnr 7
AJ Crosthwaite c Dhiman Ghosh b Enamul Haque jnr 20
AR Beadle run out 54
SNJ O'Keefe run out 65
SJ Coyte run out 0
TD Paine c Ashiqur Rahman b Enamul Haque jnr 11
JP Mangan not out 1
GD Putland st Dhiman Ghosh b Enamul Haque jnr 2
Extras (b 2, lb 3, w 17, nb 1) 23
Total (all out, 49.3 overs) 249
FOW: 1-19, 2-63, 3-73, 4-103, 5-108, 6-233, 7-235, 8-235, 9-247, 10-249
Bowling: Nazmul Hossain 4.4-0-24-0, Shahadat Hossain 10-1-47-1, Aftab Ahmed 0.2-0-4-0, Abul Bashar 10-2-35-0, Enamul Haque jnr 9.3-1-31-5, Nadif Chowdhury 10-0-56-0, Naeem Islam 5-0-47-0
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