India made it to the fifth straight ICC Under-19 World Cup final with a thrilling two-wicket victory over South Africa in Benoni on Tuesday (February 6).

Chasing 245 to win, the Boys in Blue were reeling at 32/4 but captain Uday Saharan stepped up to the plate under immense pressure.

Saharan added 171 runs for the fifth wicket with Sachin Dhas to bail his team out of trouble. After Dhas' dismissal on 96 off 95 balls, things looked a bit tricky for India but Saharan made sure to stay till the end.

When the scores were tied at 244, Saharan got run out for 81 (124 balls) in a bid to hit the winning runs for India.

Following the team’s memorable victory, Uday Saharan talked about his father's influence on his mature stroke play and learning to take the game as deep as possible.

"My dad used to play big shots and used to take the game deep. I just think of taking the game deep. I will hit a big shot in the end only if needed and till the time I am standing, the game will be ours," Saharan said in the post-match presentation.

The 19-year-old further stated that he believed and backed himself to stay till the end as the conditions got better to bat on.

"I had belief in myself. I had just one thought in my mind, that I had to play till the end. It's a matter of just 1 partnership and after that, the game will be ours. I was just thinking we had to stay till the end," Saharan remarked.

"The ball was cutting and there was bounce when I came into bat. Had to be conscious while playing. Couldn't play that freely. But as the ball started to get old it came nicely on the bat. There was a bit of bounce, but we were set on the crease," he added.

Uday Saharan was declared Player-of-the-Match for his mature innings. With this knock, he also surpassed Musheer Khan to become the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 389 runs.

The defending champions will now face the winner of the second semi-final between Australia and Pakistan in the summit clash in Benoni on Sunday (February 11).