Sports Desk
Potchefstroom: Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyansh Saxena drove India to a 10-wicket victory over Pakistan in the semi-final of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup on Tuesday.
Both the openers dealt with the pressure quite nicely and chased the 173-run target with 15 overs in hand. Jaiswal scored 105 off 113 balls laced with eight boundaries and four sixes while Saxena made 59 off 99 balls with the help of six boundaries. India, with this win, has booked its place in the final of the mega event.
Earlier, Pakistan’s skipper Rohail Nazir and opener Haider Ali rescued their team against arch-rivals and helped them post 172 runs after a poor start.
Pakistani batters were completely failed in front of Indian bowlers who bowled short continuously to dominate. Firstly, the green shirts lost in-form Mohammad Huraira for a total of just 9 runs.
Haider, thereafter, coped up with the pressure and somehow let the scoreboard ticking but Fahad Munir’s dismissal for naught after playing 16 balls put more pressure on him.
Rohail and Haider then stood firm to score the highest 62-run partnership to put energy into the game. Haider scored 56 runs off 77 balls laced with nine boundaries.
Rohail, 62 runs off 102 balls, tried hard to get the situation settles but wickets falling, on the other hand, kept increasing the pressure on the wicket-keeper batsman. He, at last, misjudged the shorter ball from Sushant Mishra and gave a simple catch at square leg.
Mohammad Haris contributed 21 runs off 15 balls which included a 28-run fifth-wicket partnership with Rohail.
For India, Mishra bagged three wickets for 28 runs in his 8.1 overs while Kartik Tyagi and Ravi Bishnoi took two wickets each.
