India Crush Pakistan by 203 Runs, to Meet Australia in U-19 Final

Both India and Australia have won the tournament three times.

India will be eyeing to win their fourth Under-19 World Cup on Saturday against Australia.

(Photo: Twitter/@cricketworldcup)

India entered the final of the U-19 cricket World Cup after thrashing arch-rivals Pakistan by a massive 203 runs in the semifinals at Christchurch on Tuesday, 30 January 2018.

Opting to bat first, India rode on Shubman Gill's 102 not out, the first century by an Indian in the tournament, to pile on 272/9 in their allotted 50 overs and then bowled Pakistan out for a mere 69 in just 29.3 overs.

Gill, who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 1.8 crore in the Indian Premier League players' auction, had hit a match-winning 86 in the quarterfinals against Bangladesh. He is the team's leading scorer with 341 runs from four innings.

Shubman Gill became the first Indian player to score a ton in this edition of the World Cup.

The defeat was Pakistan's heaviest (in terms of runs) in an Under-19 World Cup match.

For three-time champions India, seamer Ishan Porel grabbed four wickets for 17 runs while spinners Shiva Singh and Riyan Parag took two wickets apiece to rock the Pakistan run chase.

Pakistan were reduced to 20 for 3 in the eighth over with Porel removing their top three batsmen and they could not recover from there under a relentless attack from an Indian pace battery and a spin troika.

Ishan Porel rattled through the top order of Pakistan, taking four wickets in the process

Only three Pakistani players could reach double-digit scores with Rohail Nazir top scoring with 18.

In the end, Pakistan were bundled out for their third lowest score of 69.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan were pretty ordinary in the field, dropping a number of catches and missing a flurry of run outs, including that of Indian skipper Prithvi Shaw twice.

On the other hand, the Indians fielded superbly with Shivam Mavi and Prithvi Shaw pulling off outstanding catches at fine leg and slip respectively.

India will now meet Australia in the summit clash on February 3. Australia had beaten Afghanistan by six wickets in the first semi-finals on Monday, 29 January 2018.