India send Pakistan packing, storm into U-19 World Cup semifinals

Young Kanishk Chouhan showed his all-round prowess as India comfortably outclassed arch-rivals Pakistan by 58 runs in a Super Six encounter to qualify for the semifinal of the ICC U-19 World Cup here on Sunday. 

India will meet Afghanistan in the semifinal while England and Australia will play in the other last-four encounter.

It was all-rounder Kanishk, whose quickfire 29-ball 35 and a 50-run stand for the eighth wicket with Khilan Patel (21 not out off 15 balls) took India U-19 to a decent 252 in 49.5 overs.

Kanishk Chouhan

However, for Pakistan to qualify for the semi-finals on account of better run-rate, they needed to reach 253 in 33.3 overs but their batters didn’t seem interested in making a match as they managed 167 for 4 in 33.3 overs before finally getting bowled out for 194 in 46.2 overs.

In the bowling department, it was Kanishk, who basically stopped the Pakistan team on its tracks with figures of 1 for 30 in 10 overs which included an astounding 40 dot balls.

With pitch assisting spinners, left-arm spinner Khilan Patel (3-35 in 9.2 overs) and skipper Ayush Mhatre (3-21 in 8 overs) also choked the run flow throughout the middle overs.

Pakistan’s Asia Cup hero Sameer Minhas was dismissed by a Henil Patel off-cutter.

“There was a good start but in the middle, the ball was spinning. The way KC [Kanishk’s nickname] batted brilliant. Vedant [Trivedi] was batting well in the nets, so I was confident in him. Boys were contributing. Pakistan batters batted well in the first 25 [overs], after that the spinners bowled really well. We are looking match by match. Just want to win the semi-finals,” skipper Mhatre said after the match.

Earlier, Kanishk and Khilan added 50 runs in just 5.1 overs to provide a final flourish after Vedant’s patient 68 off 98 balls helped them lay a platform. Put into bat, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (30 off 22 balls) started in his typical attacking fashion but despite getting a reprieve off left-arm seamer Mohammad Sayyam’s (2-69) bowling, he was dismissed trying a second pull-shot in as many deliveries.

Six
No. of consecutive semi-final appearances for India at the ICC U-19 World Cup

Brief scores
India 252 all out in 49.5 overs (V Trivedi 68; A Subhan 3-33, M Sayyam 2-69) beat Pakistan 194 all out in 46.2 overs (U Khan 66; A Mhatre 3-21, K Patel 3-35) by 58 runs

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