India U-19 team booked a place in the semifinals after defeating Australia by 74 runs in the quarter-finals of the ICC U-19 World Cup in Potchefstroom on Tuesday, 28 January.
Some tight bowling from Australia and wickets at regular intervals restricted defending champions India to 233/9.
Australia had a very poor start to their innings as three Aussie batsman went back to the pavilion in the very first over of the innings.
Opener Fraser-McGurk was run out without facing even a single delivery. He was followed by Mackenzie Harvey (4) and Lachlan Hearne (0) in the same over by Kartik Tyagi.
Soon enough, Kartik sent their number five, Oliver Davies back in the dressing room on the score of 2 runs leaving Australia on 17/4 in just 2.3 overs.
Man in form, Kartik again showed his class by dismissing Australia’s Patrick Rowe in the 21st over of the innings. Rowe edged the ball to wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel on the score of 21.
Sam Fanning completed his half-century in the 32nd over of the Australian innings.
Opener Sam Fanning and batsman Liam Scott stitched a 81-run stand before the latter gave his wicket away to spinner Ravi Bishnoi - at the score of 35 - in the 41st over of the innings.
Fanning soon followed Liam as he edged one to the keeper Dhruv Jurel off Akash Singh’s delivery on the score of 75 runs in 127 balls.
The last three wickets fell within 4 runs restricting Australia to 159 runs in 43.3 overs.
Indian Innings
Earlier, Australia had put India to bat and the defending champions were guilty of a cautious start as the Australian bowlers didn’t allow them to play with freedom. India recorded their slowest start of the competition in the match when they managed only 35/1 in their first 10 overs
Opener Divyansh Saxena was the first one to go for 14 of 26 balls. He nicked it back to the keeper off Corey Kelly. Tilak Varma (2 off 9 balls) had a short stay at the crease before he was dismissed by Todd Murphy.
Skipper Priyam Garg also didn’t last long. He had his stumps dismantled by Connor Sully as he took the long walk back to the pavilion for a 7-ball 2.
In-form opener Yashasvi Jaiswal once again did well to play the patient game and bring up his third fifty of the competition.
Once Yashaswi crossed his fifty, the southpaw looked to accelerate his innings but was really unfortunate as he got dismissed for 62 off 82 balls. En route his 62, Yashasvi stroked 6 fours and 2 sixes.
Both Dhruv Jurel (15) and Siddhesh Veer (25) failed to convert their starts as India reeled at 144/6 in 38 overs.
At one point India were reeling at 144/6 in 38 overs and were not looking good enough to put even 200 runs on the board. But some good batting by Atharva Ankolekar (55 not out) and Ravi Bishnoi (30) saw India cross the 200-run mark. The duo put on a stand of 61runs .
India are undefeated in the competition till now. After winning their inaugural match against Sri Lanka by 90 runs, the Priyam Garg-led side notched easy victories against debutants Japan (by 10 wickets) and New Zealand (by 44 runs).
Meanwhile, Australia finished second in their group after losing their first match against 2016 champions West Indies. Later, they beat minnows Nigeria and arch-rival England to qualify for the quarter finals.
Playing XI
India U-19: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Divyansh Saxena, Tilak Varma, Priyam Garg(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Siddhesh Veer, Atharva Ankolekar, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh
Australia U-19: Sam Fanning, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey(c), Lachlan Hearne, Oliver Davies, Patrick Rowe(w), Corey Kelly, Connor Sully, Tanveer Sangha, Todd Murphy, Matthew Willans
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