India makes amends to reach Plate final

Narrowly denied the chance to defend the World Under-15 title, India sailed smoothly into the final of the Plate event, conducted for the teams that failed to reach the semi finals of the Costcutter Under-15 World Challenge in England. India are slated to play Sri Lanka in the final on Wednesday.

India beat Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in their group matches of the preliminary stage of the event. On August 6, India beat Sri Lanka by 17 runs and the next day shrugged off Zimbabwe's challenge by seven wickets. India by virtue of these wins go into the final against Sri Lanka who are placed second.

India set a stiff target by scoring 264 for eight wickets thanks to the top scorer Palash Jyoti Das (86), who gave a solid start in the company of Tirupati Ambati Rayudu (34). Then Ashraf Ali (35) and Abinav Kumar (35 not out) helped India to post a challenging total. In reply, Sri Lanka were all out for 247. Skipper Subash Dixit, N Rathod and Vasu Devadas picked up two wickets each.

In their match against Zimbabwe, India managed to restrict the opponents to 192. The left arm medium pacer Irfan Pathan picked up three wickets while giving away only 33 runs while Talukdar accounted for two. The in form Palash Jyoti Das (59) and Rayudu (31) once again gave a good start for India. Then an unbeaten 47 by Vasu Devadas and Swapnoj Thakur (27) helped India to overhaul Zimbabwe's total.

Meanwhile the semifinal clash in the main draw featuring South Africa and West Indies, disrupted by rain, was postponed for the reserve day and is to be continued on Wednesday. Winning the toss, South Africa elected to bat and proceeded to 191 for five in 42.5 overs. Van Wyk (78 not out) and V van Jaarsveld (55) added 102 for the fourth wicket. P Laing joined Van Wyk to take the score to 191. Laing was dismissed shortly before the heavens opened up to send the players scurrying back to the pavilion.