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On Tuesday, February 6, India defeated South Africa by two wickets in the first semi-final of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2024, at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. The five-time World Champions will now await the winner of the second semi-final between Australia and Pakistan in the final of the biennial tournament on Sunday.
For the unversed, the Indian U-19 captain, Uday Saharan, won the toss and decided to field first against South Africa U-19. In the first powerplay, the right-arm pacer Raj Limbani picked up two wickets from Steve Stolk and David Teeger in quick succession to put the hosts under some pressure.
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But then, the left-handed wicketkeeper batter Lhuan-dre Gilbert Pretorius and the right-handed batter Richard Seletswane put together a crucial partnership of 72 runs for the third wicket to put South Africa in a good position. Although Pretorius and Selestwane were dismissed after completing their fifties, the South African U-19 captain Juan James and Tristan Luus provided a late flourish to their innings to take them to 244/7 in their allotted overs.
The run chase for the Indian U-19 team started poorly with the dismissal of Adarsh Singh on the very first ball of the innings on a nasty bouncer from the left-arm pacer Kwena Maphaka. After that, India lost three more wickets in quick succession to find themselves in deep trouble at 32/4 in the 12th over, with the right-arm pacer Tristan Luus doing the damage.
Uday Saharan took India to the brink of the win against the South Africa U-19 team, getting run out in the penultimate over of the innings after scoring 81 off 124 with just six fours. With just one more run needed for victory, Raj Limbani hit a four off the bowling off Nqobani Mokoena, which led to wild celebrations from the Indian U-19 players on the ground.
