It was as easy as it gets. The Indian team hardly broke a sweat in crossing the final hurdle. The Uday Saharan-led side soundly thrashed Nepal by 132 runs in their second and final Super Six match of the ICC Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup 2024 at Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Friday, February 2. With that, the Boys In Blue booked their place in the semi-finals of the biennial tournament. (More Cricket News)
Batting first, India colts put a 297-run total on the board. The defending champions were in a spot of bother at 62/3 in 14 overs, but skipper Saharan and Sachin Dhas smashed centuries, 100 off 107 and 116 off 101 balls respectively, to propel their team to the tall total. For Nepal, Gulsan Jha took three wickets.
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In reply, the Indian bowlers just did not let the Nepalese batters break free. Saumy Pandey did the star turn with the ball, picking up four wickets for just 29 runs off his 10 overs as Nepal were restricted to a paltry total of 165-9 in their 50 overs.
The victory was India's second in the Super Six phase and guaranteed them a last-four spot. They had beaten New Zealand by a whopping 214 runs in their previous game.
ALSO READ: How India Won Their Previous Super Six Match
After the group phase which included 16 teams split into four groups, the Super Sixes featured 12 teams divided into Groups 1 and 2. India are now on top of Group 1 and will most likely stay there at the end of the round, considering their superior net run rate.
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Pakistan will take on Bangladesh in another Super Six clash on Saturday, and the outcome of the match will decide who will join India from this group to the semi-finals. From Group 2, Australia and South Africa have made their way into the semi-finals with seven and six points respectively from four games each.
