India recorded an exciting comeback two-wicket win in opposition to South Africa to storm into the ICC U19 ODI World Cup 2024 final on Tuesday. Sachin Dhas and Uday Saharan’s 171-run stand for the fifth wicket helped the defending champions chase down a 245-run goal after dropping the primary 4 wickets on 32 in Benoni.

Lhuan-dre Pretorius registered his third consecutive fifty on this event by smashing 76 off 102 and struggling batter Richard Seletswane added 64 runs to assist the Proteas rating a difficult whole of 244/7 whereas batting first.

But regardless of an early collapse from the Indian high order, Dhas’ 96 off 95 balls and 81 runs from captain Saharan guided the younger weapons to a memorable win within the first semifinal. India will probably be dealing with the winner of the second semifinalists between Pakistan and Australia within the final on February 11. 

After successful the essential toss on the Willomoore Park, the Indian captain elected to bowl first. India gained all of their 5 matches on this event whereas batting first so a choice got here as a shock for the followers. But Indian bowlers continued their wealthy kind with one other spectacular show.

The star pacer Raj Limbani eliminated Steve Stolk within the fifth over to provide India a breakthrough after which clean-bowled star batter David Teeger on a duck to place South Africa underneath stress. But the in-form Pretorius and no.4 Seletswane saved the Proteas alive within the recreation with spectacular however affected person gameplay.

Pretorius and Seletswane added 72 runs for the third wicket however took 131 balls. Both gamers registered fifties with Pretorius smashing his third consecutive half-century within the event. However, late cameos from Tristan Luus who smashed 23* off 12 and 24 runs from captain Juan James boosted South Africa to 244/7 in 50 overs.

Defending a superb whole, the rising pacer Kwena Maphaka dismissed in-form Adarsh Singh on the primary ball of the innings after which quick bowler Luus took three wickets within the first ten over to stumble India’s innings to 32/2 in 9.2 overs. 

But as soon as once more, Saharan stepped as much as lead the staff and had help from the final recreation’s centurion Sachin Dhas. The duo took their time to settle as they defended properly in opposition to Mphaka-Luus with glorious management of their shot choice. 

Dhas took cost to speed up the chase with common boundaries and Saharan defended a wicket with wise cricket. The duo added 171 runs for the fifth wicket, a brand new world report in youth ODIs, to place India on observe for a profitable chase.

Maphaka made a late influence by denying Dhas his second consecutive hundred. Dhas top-scored with 96 off 95 balls with the assistance of 11 fours and one six. Maphaka picked his third wicket within the recreation by eradicating wicketkeeper batter Aravelly Avanish within the forty seventh over as South Africa took the sport to wire.

But Saharan saved his cool by scoring 81 off 124 balls as India levelled the rating with 9 balls in hand. A direct throw from Oliver Whitehead ended Saharan’s good knock however it was too late for the hosts as India secured a two-wicket win with 7 balls remaining. 

South AfricaPlaying XI: Lhuan-dre Pretorius (wk), Steve Stolk, David Teeger, Richard Seletswane, Dewan Marais, Juan James (c), Oliver Whitehead, Riley Norton, Tristan Luus, Nqobani Mokoena, Kwena Maphaka

India Playing XI: Adarsh Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (c), Priyanshu Moliya, Sachin Dhas, Aravelly Avanish (wk), Murugan Abhishek, Raj Limbani, Naman Tiwari, Saumy Pandey