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That's it from this game. The young Indian boys will be one of the last 2 teams standing in the tournament. This is Dwaipayan Mukherjee, signing off with my good friend Arya Sekhar Chakraborty. Good night everyone!
Uday Saharan, India captain: Right at the end, I wanted that I should stay there till the end. It was not the best way for me to finish the game. That is where the emotions came out. I kept saying to Sachin and all other batters who followed that if we keep standing and batting at the crease, we will keep scoring runs. The dug-out and the coaching management never lets any negative emotions creep in. It is an amazing atmosphere and we have got an amazing bunch of players, supremely talented. We finally got a game where it was close. It is good practice for us, it tells us how we can respond under pressure situations and particularly pleased on how we have batted well on a day when not much went our way.
Juan James, South Africa Captain: They bowled really well, we kept losing wickets while batting at a time when we needed to score faster. After being 4 for 30, Saharan and Dhas batted exceptionally, that is where we lost the game. Proud of the boys, everyone kept fighting right till the very end. We appreciate the crowds who have come out.
Uday Saharan , Player of the Match: There was not much in my mind. Only thing was I had to stay their till the end. I knew one big partnership and we could get this done. I have taken a leaf out of my dad's book. He starts off slowly and this is exactly what I do. I realised that it was not important to hit the big shots. Take them out only when it is absolutely necessary. First when I came to bat, the ball was cutting and bouncing a bit. We had to be conscious but as the ball started becoming soft, batting became easier and easier.
India (245/7 in defeat South Africa (244/7) by 3 wickets
Some wins are more special than others. Some matches are more memorable than others. Not all matches give us the kind of roller-coaster emotions that this match had for the fans of both sides. 245 was a middling score to start off with against an Indian side that never batted second in this competition so far. Uday Saharan mentioned at the toss that his group is not worried at all at their lack of chasing experience but Kwena Maphaka showed his class.
The prodigious left-armer accounted for Adarsh Singh in the very first ball of the chase. Tristan Luus was phenomenal as well, striking thrice in his opening spell which reduced the Indians to 32 for 4. Arshin Kulkarni was the only batter from the first four victims to have reached double figures. Maphaka had his verbal exchanges as well in that fiery opening spell where the young Indian boys really struggled against the bounce and movement from the surface.
At that time, nothing seemed to go India's way. That's when Sachin Dhas and Uday Saharan, riding on the confidence from their century knocks against Nepal in the last game that they played in, began the act of resurrection. What followed was a partnership for the ages. It was truly sensational how they built that rescuing act. At the beginning, it was all about ensuring they did not lose another wicket and put themselves at the brink of defeat.
Sachin Dhas was the first to unleashing attacking shots and Saharan dropped anchor from his end. Dhas kept landing one blow after the other and Saharan began increasing their scoring rate as the overs went by. The first change bowler in Riley Norton did pose some problems but the other Proteas options were targetted one after the other in a very sensible approach since the asking rate was never too high from the word go.
Dhas had the opportunity to make history by becoming just the 3rd Indian in the history of U-19 cricket to strike multiple hundreds but perished when he was agonisingly close. Maphaka came and dismissed both Dhas and Aravelly. We saw nervy moments. Run-outs happened. Murugan got out owing to a very basic mistake, when the scores were level, Uday Saharan got run-out as well. But Raj Limbani's six and a four, the latter being the winning shot brought immense jubilation to the Indian camp.
Maphaka and Luus were top class, getting 3 wickets each but the hosts would rue the 27 extras that they conceded. South Africa have been sensational in their home tournament, only losing to England before today with their leading left-armer getting 21 wickets - it is the 2nd most by any bowler in the history of this esteemed competition. But congratulations to India, they enter their 9th final.
48.5 Nqobani Mokoena to Raj Limbani, FOUR! Limbani finishes it off in style as India win by two wickets. Was a fuller-length delivery a shade outside off, a crunching cover drive well wide of the mid-off fielder and it skips away to the fence. The Indian team comes running into the field. What a terrific turnaround this has been from the Indian youth team.
48.4 Nqobani Mokoena to Uday Saharan, WICKET! Has Saharan run himself out here? Was just trying to take a quick single to get it done for India but he feels he is short of his crease and yes he is. Saharan didn't quite time that pull shot on that occasion, clofts this away from the slice of the bat, down towards the short square leg region, the bowler gathers the throw quite brilliantly and whips off the bails with Saharan well short of his crease.
48.3 Nqobani Mokoena to Raj Limbani, on a goodish-length around middle and leg, nudged away towards the square leg region and takes a single. Just one more needed to win the semi-final.
48.3 Nqobani Mokoena to Raj Limbani, another wide. Shortish down the leg side and that has to be reloaded.
48.2 Nqobani Mokoena to Uday Saharan, on a fullish-length around the middle stump, pushed away with soft hands past the midwicket fielder and takes a single.
Video
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Willowmoore Park, Benoni
