Five-time champions India overcame a few jittery moments to defeat South Africa by two wickets and advance to the U-19 World Cup final for the ninth time on Tuesday. This is also the fifth successive occasion that India have made the title-round in the tournament.
Skipper Uday Saharan led from the front with a calm and composed 81 off 124 balls while Sachin Dhas scored 96 off 95 balls to bail India out after being reduced to 32/4 in their pursuit of 245.
The duo, who had put together a 200-plus stand against Nepal in the previous match, this time stitched a record 171-run partnership, which came off just 187 deliveries to seize control.
Needing 19 from 19 balls, India lost two wickets — Aravelly Avanish (10) and Murugan Abhishek (0) in three balls — but Saharan kept calm in the company of Raj Limbani (13) before being run out with one run needed.
The South Africa pace duo of Kwena Maphaka (3/32) and Tristan Luus (3/37) were the pick of the bowlers.
Defending champions India will face either Australia or Pakistan in the summit clash to be played on Sunday.
But the beginning was bad for India. Maphaka jolted India in the first ball of their innings, dismissing Adarsh Singh with a nasty climbing delivery that the batter had no choice but snick to w
icket-keeper Lhuan-dre Pretorious.
Luus soon joined the fun with the wickets of Musheer Khan, Arshin Kulkarni and Priyanshu Moliya as all three batters were indecisive outside the off-stump.
The Indians found their saviours in Dhas and Saharan, who dished out innings
of vastly contrasting nature and tempo. Dhas was aggressive despite the situation but Saharan was happy to keep his end going.
Dhas’ knock included cross-batted shots as he cracked a six, pulled fours besides those well-placed nudges through the vacant spots on the on-side.
Saharan, on the other hand, was more traditional but was not entirely hesitant to bring out an exquisite drive or rasping cut whenever an opportunity was there for him to do so.
These two youngsters showed immense maturity not to squander the start they got; piling runs to keep the pressure squarely on the hosts.
A second hundred in this event was there for Dhas’ taking, but Maphaka, the tournament’s highest wicket-taker so far, deceived him with a slower ball that he just managed to scoop to David Teeger at covers.
But the breakthrough came a wee bit late as India hung on to squeeze past the line notwithstanding the run out of Saharan when the scores were level.
Earlier, bowlers played a significant part in shaping India’s victory, limiting 2014 champions South Africa to 244 for 7 on a pitch that offered them considerable assistance.
SA fought through wicketkeeper batter Pretorious (76 off 102 balls) and Richard Seletswane (64 off 100 balls) after early blows, but those efforts were not enough to rattle the visitors.
Pretorious and Seletswane milked 72 runs for the third wicket but they took nearly 22 overs for that.
The South African top-order just could not get going against India pacers Naman Tiwari (1/52) and Raj Limbani (3/60) who found appreciable pace, bounce and carry from the track. Seletswane and Pretorious failed to score at a brisk pace.
Left-arm spinners Saumy Pandey and Musheer Khan (2/43) along with off-spinner Moliya restricted the runs in this phase.
