In the semifinals of the ICC World Cup 2018 semi-final, the clash of two rivals saw the young boys in blue win the toss and opt to bat first. Powered by U-19 vice-captain Shubman Gill’s power-packed century (102 not out off 94 balls), India gave arch-rivals Pakistan a target of 273 runs in the semi-finals of the U-19 World Cup.
The Rahul Dravid coached Team India saw openers Prithvi Shaw and Manjot Kalra fall a few runs short of their half-century but it was vice-captain Shubman Gill who smashed his maiden ton in the tournament to help India project a score of 273 runs in the second semifinals of the U-19 World Cup.
Openers Prithvi Shaw (41 off 42 balls) and Manjot Kalra (47 off 59 balls) gave the team a sublime start before Captain Shaw was run out by Pakistan’s strike bowler Muhammad Musa. Kalra, too, was sent back to the pavilion by Musa, while just three runs short of his half-century.
Shaw and Kalra had a partnership of 89 runs before the skipper was run out for 41. The middle order had a mini-collapse when Harvik Desai, Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma departed in quick successions but it was Gill along with the lower-order batsman brought India back on track.
Pakistan's Muhammad Musa collected four wickets despite leaking runs with a figure of 4/67 and Arshad Iqbal helped the men in green with his 3/51.
Australia defeated Afghanistan in the first semifinal to win by six wickets, to book a birth in the finals.
