Brisbane, Aug 20: In a low scoring thriller, India claimed an exhilarating one wicket win over traditional rivals Pakistan in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Super League quarter-finals on Monday.
Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat in overcast conditions at the Tony Ireland Stadium. India had a dream start to its bowling efforts with Sandeep Sharma picking up two wickets in the first over, buoyed on by a vocal crowd of Indian fans.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Umar Waheed then took the sting out of the India bowling attack and put on 55 runs for the third wicket before Waheed (27) was dismissed by Ravikant Singh.
Ravikant was destructive with the ball and quickly claimed the wickets of Saad Ali (1) and Salman Afridi (0). Azam finally fell for 50, dismissed by Baba Aparajith. Rain threatened to disrupt play and the covers were brought on twice, but it wasn’t enough to stop India from bowling out Pakistan for 136 in the 45th over.
India almost mirrored the start made by Pakistan in the morning, and was eight for three at one stage after Zia ul-Haq and Ehsan Adil picked up the wickets of openers Prashant Chopra and Unmukt Chand.
Aparajith and Vijay Zol then steadied the ship and combined for a fourth wicket stand of 66 to get India back on track. India looked to be sitting comfortably before Aparajith was dismissed for 50 (96b, 3x4). India slipped from 120 for five to 127 for nine as Pakistan’s Azizullah struck at regular intervals.
The last pair of Harmeet Singh and Sandeep Sharma kept their heads and methodically and slowly chipped the ball around. It was Harmeet who finally chipped the ball over deep square leg to secure the win for India.
Match winner Harmeet said when he hit the last ball he knew it was two runs.“I ran on the first run. I couldn’t neither breathe nor cry or laugh, the emotion was tremendous. I backed myself and knew Sandeep could play, it was just about handling pressure. Obviously the mind gets blocked but I took this as an occasion which I have to enjoy,” he said.
Sharma said there was lots of pressure to score the winning runs. “I was confident that I could play. Harmeet was playing really well too. I was thinking only about playing the ball and saving my wicket,” he said.