India and Pakistan were supposed to put on a show at the marquee event of the U19 World Cup in New Zealand. However, it was just India U19 that put up a show with both bat and ball and made their way to the finals and set up a final clash with Australia U19.
India batted first and scored 272/9. Shaw (41) and Kalra (47) gave India U19 a good start, adding 89 runs. But Arshad Iqbal then picked three quick wickets of Desai, Parag and Abhishek Sharma to jolt India. At 166/5, Shubman Gill, who was quietly gathering runs, came into the forefront and took on the Pakistani bowlers.
He and Anukul Roy (33) helped India reach 272 after 50 overs. Gill remained not out for 102 in just 94 balls with 7 fours. It was a brilliant inning of character and aggression from the young batsman.
Muhammad Musa picked 4/67, while Arshad Iqbal picked 3/51 for Pakistan.
The Pakistani batting was supposed to give a tough chase to the Indian total of 272. However, they ran into Ishan Porel and the Indian spinners.
Porel removed openers for 13 runs on board and then removed their best batsman Ali Zaryab Asif. He ended up with figures of 4/17. Shiva Singh picked 2/20 and Riyan Parag took 2/6; while Abhishek Sharma and Anukul Roy picked a wicket each.
Pakistan was routed for 69 all out in the 30th over and India won the match by 203 runs.
Now India and Australia will play the finals of the ICC U19 World Cup 2018 on Saturday, Feb 3, 2018.
BRIEF SCORES:
INDIA 272/9 (S GILL 102*; M MUSA 4/67) defeated PAKISTAN 69 (R NAZIR 18; I POREL 4/17) by 203 runs.
