The Indian cricket team stormed into the final of the U19 Asia Cup 2024 with a dominant 7-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Thursday. Fast bowler Chetan Sharma restricted Sri Lanka to 174 while bowling first and then in-form openers Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre shone again to lead India to an easy win in the second semi-final in Sharjah.
India will face Bangladesh in the final on Sunday with the latter thrashing in-form Pakistan in the first semi-final in Dubai. So, fans will be disappointed to miss out on a high-voltage India vs Pakistan game in the final. Both India and Pakistan faced each other in the summit clash only once during the 2012 edition where both shared a trophy after the game was tied.
Sri Lanka surprisingly elected to bat first after winning the toss at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Chetan was quick to put India in control with two big wickets as Sri Lanka regretted their decision to bat first after going three wickets down with just 8 runs on the scoreboard.
Sharujan Shanmuganathan and Lakvin Abeysinghe then pulled off a stunning 93-run stand for the fourth wicket to keep Sri Lanka on track for a big total. Indian spinners once again managed to make a comeback with Kiran Chormale and Ayush Mhatre picking two wickets each to bowl out the Island nation to 173 in 46.2 overs. Chetan produced the best figures by taking three wickets for 34 in his eight-over spell for India.
Unlike Sri Lanka, Indian openers Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre produced another brilliant start in the powerplay overs to ensure an easy chase. Both young batters played aggressive cricket to display their big-hitting skills yet again as India added 91 runs for the first wicket inside nine overs.
Mhatre departed after scoring 34 runs off 28 balls but Vaibhav managed to produce his second back-to-back fifty in the tournament to put India on track for a big win. Vaibhav top-scored with 67 runs off just 36 balls but was not able to take India off to the finish line. Captain Mohamed Amaan and KP Karthikeya did the rest by adding an unbeaten 27 runs for the fourth wicket.
Sri Lanka U19 Playing XI: Pulindu Perera, Dulnith Sigera, Sharujan Shanmuganathan (wk), Vimath Dinsara, Lakvin Abeysinghe, Kavija Gamage, Viran Chamuditha, Vihas Thewmika (c), Praveen Maneesha, Newton Ranjith Kumar, Mathulan Kugathas.
India U19 Playing XI: Ayush Mhatre, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Andre Siddarth C, Mohamed Amaan (c), KP Karthikeya, Nikhil Kumar, Harvansh Singh (wk), Kiran Chormale, Hardik Raj, Chetan Sharma, Yudhajit Guha.
