Indian win ends South Africa's tournament
A third successive defeat meant South Africa U-19 were knocked out of the tournament
Cricinfo staff
05-Jan-2008
India Under-19 226 for 4 (Kohli 71, Tiwary 53*, Srivastava 50, Parnell 3-34) beat South Africa Under-19 223 for 9 (Malan 57, Abdulla 3-29, Srivastava 3-42) by 6 wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
A third successive defeat, with Friday's game against Bangladesh Under-19 washed out, resulted in South Africa Under-19 being knocked out of the triangular tournament being held in Pretoria.
South Africa needed to beat India Under-19 to have a chance of going through to the final, but the hosts suffered a six-wicket loss. Tanmay Srivastava was once again instrumental in thwarting South Africa; he had scored a century in the previous round-robin encounter between the two teams, and though he scored only 50 in this game, his three wickets had helped his team restrict the hosts to 223 from their alloted 50 overs.
Wayne Parnell, the South African captain, opted to bat and his team made a brisk and steady start, with 56 runs being added before the first wicket - of JJ Smuts - fell on the last ball of the tenth over. Opener Pieter Malan top scored for his side with 57; South Africa were looking good at 105 for 2 off 22.3 overs before Srivastava struck to remove Malan.
The remaining South African batsmen failed to carry on the momentum, with a few failing to capitalise on starts. A 47-run seventh-wicket stand between Parnell and Sybrand Engelbrecht ensured the team went past the 200-mark, with South Africa completing their 50 overs at 223 for 9. Srivastava finished with 3 for 42 while Iqbal Abdulla, the left-arm spinner, had impressive figures of 3 for 29.
Parnell took two quick wickets as India faltered to 16 for 2 in their chase, but the ensuing 111 runs added by Virat Kohli and Srivastava put the reply on track. Srivastava was out hit wicket to Parnell for an even 50, which came off 76 balls. Kohli's 71 was the game's highest score, but when he fell with India at 160, South Africa still had a sniff of a chance.
Unfortunately for the hosts, an unbroken 66-run stand between Saurav Tiwary (53) and Manish Pandey (26) saw India through with 18 balls to spare.
India take on Bangladesh on Sunday, a dress rehearsal for the final, which will be played on Tuesday.