NEW DELHI: India capped off yet another sensational performance in the ICC Under-19 World Cup, this time beating Pakistan by a handsome 203-run margin in the big semifinal on Tuesday. With the win, India not only registered their fifth win over their arch-rivals in Under-19 World Cup, but also booked themselves a place in the final, where they will face three-time winners Australia on Saturday.
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From ball one, India were the dominant of the two sides. Young batting sensation
Shubman Gill scored his maiden century to lift India to 272/9, in chase of which Pakistan batting imploded before eventually getting bowled out for a lowly 69, their heaviest defeat in Under-19 World Cups. Leading the destruction was fast bowler
Ishan Porel, who snuffed out four wickets, accompanied by two scalps each from spinners Riyan Parag and Shiva Singh.
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Just 48 hours after being snapped up by IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 1.8 crore, coming in at the fall of India's first wicket, Gill remained unbeaten on 102 and in the process, overtook his skipper Prithvi Shaw's 94 for highest individual score by an Indian in the tournament. With the century, Gill took his personal tally to 341 runs in the tournament with an average of over 170. He even returned to take a stunning catch, running behind, later in the innings.
Gill got good support, first from Harvik Desai and later from Anukul Roy, and struck 50-run partnerships with both. He built on a solid foundation laid by openers Shaw and Manjot Kalra, who had put on 89 runs for the opening wicket before Shaw was run-out for 41. Pakistan struggled on the field, missing almost half a dozen run out chances and dropping two catches.
Shaw and Kalra started off with a breeze, bringing up India's 50 inside eight overs before Pakistan finally scored a run-out. Responding to a risky Single, Shaw took off and even put in the dive but couldn't ground his bat properly. India suffered a second jolt soon after when Muhammad Musa got his first wicket with Kalra inside edging a delivery to the wicketkeeper.
Pakistan's fast bowler Arshad Iqbal, who gave away 21 runs in his first three overs, came back strong in his second spell and reduced India to 166/5 by snaring three wickets in three overs - Desai, Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma. With Gill going great guns at the other end, he needed someone to support him and that came from Anukul. The left-arm spinner, who took 5/14 and 4/20 against Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe respectively, struck some lusty blows and scored 33 off 45 before becoming Musa's second wicket of the day.
Anukul and Gill got together for 67 runs and that allowed Gill to go about his innings without fuss. Accelerating well in the final ten overs, Gill brought up his century off 93 balls as India finished on a pretty formidable score, one that looked difficult around the 35-over mark. The fact that Gill had not more than seven boundaries and yet scored at over a run a ball showed how well he ran between the wickets during India's rebulding period.
Pakistan's chase, well, could never really take off. Their highest partnership of the innings was worth 20 runs that came between Saad Khan and Muhammad Musa (who had earlier finished with 4/67). Ishan shredded the Pakistan top-order, reducing them to 28/4 by the 12th over. Rohail Nazir, who was the top-scorer for them with 18 runs kept running out of partners, and gave away his prized wicket to Riyan. Eight Pakistan batsmen fell in single-digits, with only Saad and Musa striking a few lusty blows towards the end. Abhishek Sharma took just three balls to get the final wicket - of Arshad - and capped off a memorable win for the Rahul Dravid-coached team.
Brief Scores: India 272/9 (Shubman Gill 102*, Manjot Kalra 47; Muhammad Musa 4/67) beat Pakistan 69 all out (Rohail Nazir 18; Ishan Porel 4/17, Riyan Parag 2/20)
