India marched into the finals of the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2020 after a comprehensive 10-wicket win against Pakistan in Potchefstroom in South Africa on Tuesday, 4 February.
Mirroring India’s campaign from the previous edition of the tournament two years ago, Priyam Garg & Co are yet to lose a match after playing five games in the competition.
For India, who are being coached by former Indian cricketer Paras Mhambrey, it has been a superlative all-round display with both batsmen and bowlers making their presence felt. Just like their predecessors, who went on to win the title in 2018, this side also look invincible with an array of all-rounders in their ranks.
Apart from defeating the likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Japan, the Asian champions have beaten favourites New Zealand and Australia in their campaign to rightfully find a place in tournament’s grand finale.
Here’s a look at how the ‘Boys in Blue’ fared till now in the competition to find a place in the finals of the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2020:
Perfect Start
India started their campaign with a clinical 90-run win against Sri Lanka.
It was the first of India’s all-round performances in the tournament. Impressive batting along with a disciplined bowling effort saw the defending champions cruise to a comfortable victory in the opening group league encounter of the ICC U-19 World Cup.
Batting first, India posted a competitive 297/4. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal opened his World Cup campaign scoring 59 off 74 balls. Skipper Priyam Garg also chipped in with 72-ball 56, along with vice-captain Dhruv Jurel, who scored 52 off 48 balls.
But it was all-rounder Siddhesh Veer who was rightly adjudged Player of the Match for his 44 off 27 balls and 2/34 in 6 overs.
Indian bowlers Akash Singh (2/29), Kartik Tyagi (1/27) and Ravi Bishnoi (2/44) kept the Lankan batsmen under check to bowl them out for 207 in 45.2 overs.
Crushing the Minnows
India played their second game of the competition against debutants Japan – the biggest mismatch of the tournament. The match got over in 27.5 overs, with India registering an expected 10-wicket win against the minnows. With the win, India assured themselves a spot in the quarter-finals.
Choosing to field, Indian bowlers toyed with the Japanese batters to bowl them out for 41 runs in only 22.5 overs. The Japanese batsmen looked clueless as none of them managed to get to double digits and the extras column topped the batting charts with 19 runs.
Leggie Ravi Bishnoi took four wickets to bag the Player of the Match award. Meanwhile, pacers Kartik Tyagi and Akash Singh shared five wickets among themselves.
India completed the formalities in just 4.5 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kumar Kushagra remaining unbeaten on 29 and 13 respectively.
Topping the Group
India’s last group encounter was a rain-affected affair. But India still managed to beat New Zealand by 44 runs.
Batting first, Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (57) and Divyansh Saxena (52) brought up their individual fifties to finish with 115/0 after the match was reduced to 23-overs per-side. After the target was revised under the DLS method, New Zealand were set a target of 193.
Playing his first match of the tournament, left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar finished with 3 for 28 in five overs while Ravi Bishnoi continued his good work with the ball in the competition – to end with 4 for 30 from his five overs.
Courtesy some great bowling from the spin duo and excellent glovework by vice-captain Dhruv Jurel, New Zealand were bundled out for 147 in 21 overs.
With the win, India topped Group A with six points and set-up a quarter-final clash with Australia.
Bowlers Save the Day
Four-time champions India defended a modest total against Australia in the most impressive fashion to enter semi-finals of the competition with a comfortable 74-run victory.
If the spin duo won India the game against New Zealand, pacer Kartik Tyagi single-handedly dismantled the Australian top-order with a dream opening spell.
Batting first, the Indians for the first time looked vulnerable as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Opener Yashasvi was the only exception, scoring 62 off 82 balls. But it was Atharva Ankolekar's unbeaten 55 off 54 balls with five fours and a six which rescued India and helped them reach 233/9.
Kartik Tyagi made sure Australia were out of the contest in the first over of the chase. He picked up two wickets in the over, including that of skipper Australian skipper Mackenzie Harvey, while opener Jake Fraser-McGurk ran himself out off the very first ball of the innings.
After the initial set-back, Australia never looked in contention as they were dismissed for 159 runs in 43.3 overs. Kartik was the wrecker-in-chief as he finished with figures of 4/24 while Akash Singh picked up 3/30.
Storm into Final
India stormed into their second successive final of the Under-19 World Cup after they inflicted a crushing 10-wicket win against arch-rival Pakistan in the semi-finals.
Pakistan, who chose to bat first, were outclassed by India in all departments of the game as they were dismissed for a paltry 172 in 43.1 overs before the Indian openers made a mockery of the Pakistani bowling to reach their target with 88 balls still to be bowled.
In-form Yashasvi smashed his maiden century of the competition to become the highest run-getter in the competition (306 runs). His unbeaten 105 came off 112 balls and comprised eight fours and three sixes.
Giving him company for the 176-run opening stand, Divyaansh Saxena smashed six boundaries for an unbeaten 59.
Earlier, the Indian bowlers hunted in a pack right from the start. Sushant Mishra (3/28), Kartik Tyagi (2/32) and Ravi Bishnoi (2/46) shared seven wickets among them, while Atharva Ankolekar (1/29) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (1/11) scalped one each to restrict Pakistan to a low score.
India will now either face Bangladesh or New Zealand in the final.
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