It was double delight for India at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, as they handed Pakistan a 58-run defeat and confirmed their semi-final spot in the ICC U-19 World Cup.
Vedant Trivedi’s 68 and contributions from the lower middle-order helped India post 252 after another flop show from the star batters. Pakistan had to hunt down the target in 33.3 overs to help their net run rate. They lost by 58 runs.
India will face Afghanistan in the second semi-final in Harare on February 4, after Australia lock horns against England in the first one in Bulawayo a day earlier.
Pakistan will regret bowling first on a surface that became slower and tougher to bat on in the second innings. There were no handshakes at the toss or after the match. After being put in to bat, India started well but slipped from 47 for no loss to 47 for 3 in four balls.
For the second time in the tournament, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi got out to a short ball. Ayush Mhatre was caught behind for zero and Aaron George was late on an incoming delivery and lost his stumps. Heading into this game, India’s biggest worry was Trivedi’s form.
On the day his team needed him to step up and repay the trust, the right-handed batter delivered. His 62-run partnership with vice-captain Vihaan Malhotra did not allow Pakistan to bundle India out early. Despite being out of form, Trivedi looked assured with his footwork against pace and spin. He and Malhotra absorbed the pressure and played out the tricky phase.
The in-form Abhigyan Kundu joined Trivedi after Malhotra’s departure and the former got a reprieve when he was caught off a no-ball but did not make it count. RS Ambrish and Trivedi then steered the innings through the middle overs.
Trivedi notched up his first fifty of the tournament. He focused more on strike rotation as the surface was sluggish and big shots were tough to hit, especially against the spinners, who bowled well in the middle overs.
At the 40-over mark, India were on 181. They added 71 in the last 10 overs. Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan and Khilan Patel took Pakistan’s death bowling plans apart. Abdul Subhan was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan with three wickets.
India needed to remove the dangerous Sameer Minhas, who had scored a big hundred in the Asia Cup final. Henil Patel trapped him in front of the stumps to give Pakistan a body blow. Usman Khan and Hamza Zahoor forged a fifty-run partnership, but the Indian bowlers never allowed Pakistan to score quickly. Even the set batters struggled to find the boundary.
With the ball gripping the surface, India’s frontline spinners and part-time options came into play and put the brakes on the scoring. Against the pacers, runs came at a decent pace, but spin in the middle overs first denied Pakistan a semi-final spot and then a win.
At one stage, it seemed like Pakistan had given up. Even though he failed with the bat, Mhatre was India’s best bowler, taking three wickets, including that of top-scorer Usman (66).
Brief scores: India U-19 252 in 49.5 ovs (Vedant Trivedi 68; Abdul Subhan 3/33) beat Pakistan U-19 194 in 46.2 ovs (Usman Khan 66; Ayush Mhatre 3/21, Khilan Patel 3/35) by 58 runs.
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