Sport

Look: India dump South Africa out of U19 World Cup

Dudley Carstens|Published

Got fifty: Uday Saharan. Picture: BCCI on X

India knocked hosts South Africa out of the U19 World Cup yesterday, beating captain Juan James and his charges in a thriller by two wickets at Willowmoore Park in Benoni.

Sent in to bat first, the hosts scored 244/7 in their 50 overs.

Opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius contributed 76 of those runs off 102 balls, with Richard Seletswane scoring 64 runs off 100 balls.

SA Stars: Kwena Maphaka. supplied

SA then had their tails up in India’s innings, when the talented Kwena Maphaka (3/32) had Adarsh Singh caught behind off the first ball of the innings.

With his new-ball partner Tristan Luus (3/37) then bagging three quick wickets, India had their backs to the wall on 32/4.

But then captain and the tournament’s leading runs-scorer Uday Saharan (81) and Sachin Dhas (96) teamed up to bring their team back in the match with a fifth-wicket partnership of 171 runs to break the hosts’ spine before they eventually got over the line (248/8) with seven balls to spare, despite some late drama.

Australia and Pakistan meet in the tournament’s other semifinal on Thursday.

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