Another day and another clinical performance from the India Under-19 team as they thump the arch-rivals and the neighbors Pakistan in the semi-final to reserve the berth in the final showdown against Australia. It was as comprehensive as it can get as the junior men in blue were far superior in all three departments on the field and won the match by a massive margin of 203 runs.
Initially, the Indian skipper Prithvi Shaw won the toss and elected to bat first. The opening pair of Shaw and Manjot Kalra tackled the Pakistani pacers pretty well and added 89 runs for the first wicket before the captain departed after scoring 41 runs and soon, Kalra too fell for 47 runs.
The No.3 batsman Shubman Gill had a fifty partnership with Harvik Desai but suddenly, India lost 3 quick wickets and found themselves at 166/5 after 33.1 overs. Gill was unflustered at one end and kept scoring freely. He had had a tremendous tournament thus far as he scored half-centuries on all 3 previous occasions and the youngster brought up his 4th consecutive fifty as well.
Anukul Sudhakar Roy hung in with Gill and added 69 runs for the 6th wicket but as the death overs arrived, the Indian batsmen fell in the bid to up the ante. Gill stayed firm and went on to notch up his maiden century of the tournament. His unbeaten 102 helped the team get to a strong score of 272/9 at the end of 50 overs.
In reply, Pakistani batsmen were bamboozled by the pacer Ishan Porel and some outstanding catches by the Indians. Porel picked up the top 4 wickets and had the opposition in stutters at 28/4. There was no looking back for the 3-time champions as they bundled out Pakistan for just 69 runs in 29.3 overs and enforced a commanding win by 203 runs.
Match Summary
India U-19 won the toss and opted to bat first
India U-19:Â 202/3 in 20 overs
Shubman Gill 102*, Manjot Kalra 47
Muhammad Musa 67/4, Arshad Iqbal 51/3
Pakistan U-19:Â 69/10 in 29.3 overs
Rohail Nazir 18, Saad Khan 15
Ishan Porel 17/4, Riyan Parag 6/2
India U-19 won by 203 runs
Player of the Match:Â Shubman Gill
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