India stormed into their third successive ICC U-19 World final after thrashing Pakistan by 10 wickets in the first semi-final. The defending champions put in a clinical performance with the bowlers restricting Pakistan to 172 and then Yashasvi Jaiswal smashing a ton to take India home.
Pakistan U-19 won the toss and elected to bat first. India U-19 had their opponents on the mat right away with Susant Mishra striking in the second over itself, dismissing Mohammad Huraira.
Ravi Bishnoi was next to get into the wickets, getting rid of Fahad Munir in the ninth over. Pakistan U-19 at 34/2.
Opener Haider Ali (56 off 77 balls) and skipper Rohail Nazir (62 off 102 balls) then began to reconstruct the Pakistan innings with well-made half centuries.
However, those were the only two knocks that stood out. In fact apart from these two and Mohammad Haris, not a single Pakistan U-19 batsmen even reached double digits.
Mishra ended with figures of 3/28 in 8.1 overs with Bishnoi and Kartik Tyagi taking two wickets apiece as Pakistan U-19 went from 95/3 to 172 all out.
India U-19’s Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena began the chase with a calm and calculated approach. Aggressive but cautious, the duo made sure that India U-19 were never in trouble.
Jaiswal, who currently tops the run-getter list with 312 runs in the tournament, smashed eight fours and four sixes in his innings of 105* off 113 balls. His partner Saxena had six hits to the boundary rope in his innings of 59* off 99 balls.
Together, the opening pair took India U-19 home with a massive 88 balls to spare. Four time champions India U-19 will now play either New Zealand U-19 or Bangladesh U-19 in the final on February 9.