India qualify for Under-19 World Cup semi-finals, Pakistan knocked out

Pakistan Under-19 neither succeeded in qualifying for the semi-final nor managed a win against India Under-19 in the last Super Sixes match of the Under-19 World Cup. Two absolute points and significant net-run-rate points behind India, Pakistan needed to chase down the target of 253 in 33.3 overs, but they never quite went for that outrageous chase on a difficult surface with variable bounce. However, as the game got deeper, the pitch got more and more difficult to bat on, scuttling even the regulation chase, which looked good till 33.3 overs.

India needed a win to end as their group leaders and thus get Afghanistan in the semi-final in Harare while a defeat after 33.3 overs would have pitted them against Australia on the same tired square in the semi-final in Bulawayo. In the end, the depth in India's line-up trumped Pakistan, who had looked dominant in the early goings in both the innings.

Pakistan had India down at 47 for 3 and 200 for 7, but just couldn't restrict them to a manageable chase. Vedant Trivedi shored India up with 68 off 98, and then the lower order all contributed: No. 8 Kanishk Chouhan scored 35, No. 7 RS Ambrish hung around for 29, and even No. 9 Khilan Patel hit 21 off 15. It didn't help that Pakistan were slow in the field, and had to bowl the last four overs with an extra fielder inside the 30-yard circle: 39 runs came off these overs even though India didn't have wickets in hand.

With the bat, Pakistan got off to a sprightly start, but the dip in quality of batting was quite steep after No. 4. That's possibly why they didn't go all out for the qualification. India, on the other hand, had plenty of defensive spin options, which proved to be valuable on a pitch that offered them a lot of turn in the afternoon.

India will look back at a game in which they were tactically superior even though the opposition dominated the early goings. They read the conditions better, deciding to bat first, but it never came to pass as Pakistan won the toss and decided to chase anyway. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi went after the new ball during his 30 off 22, but when they lost three wickets for the score of 47, Trivedi and Vihaan Malhotra dug in, knowing any score over 200 would make it extremely difficult for any outrageous chase. Even with the ball, they bowled defensively to first make sure they qualified and just burst through the narrow opening provided when Pakistan captain Farhan Yousaf was caught at long-on to make it 151 for 3 in 29.4 overs.

The collapse after that was spectacular - 8 for 43 - with the ball turning square and India using their part-time spinners against a left-hand dominated batting order. While Chouhan, who started early, ended with figures of 10-1-30-1, captain Ayush Mhatre picked up three wickets to go with one for Malhotra. Khilan, whose hitting pushed India past 250 earlier, took three bonus wickets.

Pakistan will rue their indiscipline with the ball and in the field, and indecision with the bat. The intent against the new ball wasn't absolute. One Henil Patel got Sameer Minhas out early, they understandably needed to be a little circumspect, but you would have expected them to turn this into a T20. At 13.3 overs, they needed 174 in 20 overs with nine wickets in hand if they were to qualify, but they never put India under pressure. They took only what was on offer, and Chouhan didn't offer much.

However, during the 63-run third-wicket stand between Usman Khan and Yousaf, Pakistan looked like they were the favourites for a regulation win. Yousaf picked a slower ball from Ambrish, tried to hit his third six, but couldn't clear long-on. That is when India started to tighten the noose, and choked Pakistan out of the game.