07 February 2024, 02:00 AM IST
Photo | BCCi
Benoni (South Africa): India under-19 Cricket World Cup finals, despite the collapse of the top line, fought unflinchingly. They defeated the hosts South Africa by two wickets in an exciting semi-final and entered the final in search of their sixth crown. Score: South Africa 244 for 7 in 50 overs. India 248 for 8 in 48.5 overs.
Sachindas (96 off 95 balls) and captain Uday Sahara (81 off 124 balls) were the architects of victory. India’s victory came with seven balls to spare at the end of a very exciting match. From the first match of the World Cup to the Super Six, India had huge victories. However, all calculations went wrong in the semi-final against South Africa. But Sachin and Uday Sahara’s fight paid off. Both of them scored 171 runs for the fifth wicket which changed the course of the game. This is the highest fifth-wicket partnership in U-19 cricket. Uday Saharan is the man of the match.
India without flinching
India started chasing 245 runs. Opener Adarsh Singh returned before opening his account. Musheer Khan (four) is also out as the Indian score reaches eight. The moment when India easily reached the semi-finals. Later, the Indian batters tried to set up the wicket. However, Arshin Kulkarni (12) also returned before the scoreboard could catch up. Priyanshu Molia (five) is out when India’s score reaches 32 runs. With this, India faced defeat. Sachin Das and Uday Saharan added strength to India in the fifth wicket. Both scored 171 runs off 187 balls. Sachin reached 96 runs in 95 balls including one six and 11 fours. Sachin fell four runs short of his century. Still Uday Saharan (81 off 124 balls) struggled. There are six fours in Sahara’s innings. Along with Aravalli Avanish (10), who arrived when Sachin was out, he slowly moved towards victory. As the distance to the victory target narrowed, India’s wickets continued to fall causing a crisis. Murugan runs out before Abhishek runs. Later, Raj Limbani (13*) came close to winning with some big shots. Just nine runs in the last two overs. With the first ball of the 49th over, Saharan struck and the match went in India’s favor. Saharan’s batting was with confidence. Meanwhile, Saharan got out while running for the winning run. Raj Limbani bowled the next ball and gave India a wonderful victory. South Africa’s Kwena Mapaka and Tristan Luce took three wickets each.
For South Africa who lost the toss and batted first, opener Luan Pretorius (76) and Richard Seletswane (64) put up a good score. Captain Juan James (24), Tristan Luce (23) and Oliver Whitehead (22) also raised the score. India’s Raj Limbani took three wickets and Musheer Khan two wickets. Naman Tiwari and Soumi Pandey took a wicket each.
2024-02-06 20:30:00
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