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India stun SA with comeback to win semis

rugby06 February 2024 16:27| © MWP
By:Ross Roche
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The Indian U19 team stunned the host South African U19s with a brilliant fightback to clinch a thrilling two wicket win in their ICC World Cup semifinal at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Tuesday.

After losing four early wickets leaving them in massive trouble, Sachin Dhas and captain Uday Saharan shared in a match defining 171-run fifth wicket partnership off 197 balls to set their side on their way to the tight win.

Dhas cruised to an impressive 96 off 95 balls, hitting 11 fours and a six, while Saharan anchored things with 81 off 124 balls, and was the last wicket to fall after guiding his team to level scores.

The Indian chase got off to a disastrous start as Kwena Maphaka bowled a vicious rising delivery first ball of the innings, which took the shoulder of Ardash Singh’s bat and flew to keeper Lhuan-dre Pretorius to give his side the perfect star.

Tristan Luus then took over and had Arshin Kulkarni (12) and Musheer Khan (4) caught by his skipper Juan James in the slips, and had Priyanshu Moliya (5) caught by Pretorius, reducing India to 32/4 in the 12th over.

This brought Dhas in to join Saharan and they steadied things by batting slowly at first, taking their side to 73/4 at the end of 20 overs.

Both batters then picked up the pace as they took their side past the hundred run mark in the 25th over and Dhas brought up his fifty with a boundary off Oliver Whitehead in the 27th.

The Indian 150 came up in the 34th over, followed by Saharan bringing up his half century with a four off James in the 36th.

India brought up their 200 in the 41st over, and at that stage bizarrely Maphaka, the tournament’s leading wicket taker, had only bowled one over since the 11th.

He was finally brought back in the 43rd and immediately made the breakthrough having Dhas tamely caught by David Teeger at extra cover, four short of what would have been a fantastic century, to reduce them to 203/5.

Maphaka still had a final word as he had Aravelly Avanish (10) stunningly caught by a diving Rilee Norton at fine leg, while Murugan Abhishek was run out for a duck in the next over as India slipped to 227/7.

Raj Limbani, 13no off four balls, made sure there wouldn’t be any late drama as he struck a six and a four, and despite Saharan falling with the scores level, they made it home.

Maphaka, 3/32, and Luus, 3/37, did everything they could but it wasn’t enough for the distraught South Africans in the end.

In the first innings half centuries from the bats of Pretorius and Richard Seletswane helped SA reach 244/7.

Pretorius struck 76 off 102 balls (6x4, 3x6) and Seletswane 64 off 100 (4x4, 2x6) as they gave their bowlers something to defend against the tournament favourites.

At the start of play India won the toss and chose to field, with the South African innings getting off to a rocky start as Steve Stolk (14) chased a wide delivery from Limbani, giving keeper Avanish and easy catch behind the stumps.

New man Teeger fell for a second ball duck as he missed a Limbani ball that swung back in superbly to beat his defences and crash into the stumps leaving SA on 47/2 in the ninth over.

Seletswane joined Pretorius at the crease and they set about rebuilding the innings with a 72-run third wicket stand.

They moved their side confidently to 90/2 after 20 overs, which included Pretorius bringing up a well-deserved half century off 59 balls, but they were then stopped in their tracks by the introduction of the spinners.

Khan and Molina bowled in tandem for 11 straight overs, in which time only 30 runs were scored and Pretorius fell, pulling Khan to Abhishek at midwicket to take a blinding catch, leaving SA on 120/3.

Oliver Whitehead (22) joined Seletswane, who finally decided to open up after being on 25 off 75 balls, as he slog swept both Khan and Molina for sixes to boost SA over the 150 run mark in the 38th over.

Whitehead skied Khan to be caught, Seletswane brought up his half century, and new man Dewan Marais (3) was caught on the boundary trying to slog sweep Saumy Pandey for six, as SA slipped to 174/5 after an action packed few overs.

James (24) came in to give the innings a bit of impetus as he combined with Seletswane for a quickfire 40-run stand off 25 balls, before both fell in quick succession as they slipped to 220/7.

A nice cameo of 23no off 12 balls from Luus, which included two well struck sixes got SA to their eventual total, while Limbani, 3/60, and Khan, 2/43, were the pick of the bowlers.

SOUTH AFRICA: Lhuan-dre Pretorius (wk), Steve Stolk, David Teeger, Richard Seletswane, Dewan Marais, Juan James (c), Oliver Whitehead, Riley Norton, Tristan Luus, Nqobani Mokoena, Kwena Maphaka

INDIA: Adarsh Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Priyanshu Moliya, Uday Saharan (c), Sachin Dhas, Musheer Khan, Aravelly Avanish (wk), Murugan Abhishek, Raj Limbani, Naman Tiwari, Saumy Pandey

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