U19 World Cup 2024: Uday Saharan, Sachin Dhas, Saumy Pandey power India to semis after resounding win vs Nepal
India made their way through to the semi-final of the U19 World Cup 2024 after beating Nepal by 132 runs in the Super 6s match on Friday, February 2 at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.
Uday Saharan, Sachin Dhas and Saumy Pandey were the stars of the show as the Boys in Blue stayed unbeaten in the tournament on South African soil.
After opting to bat, India found themselves in trouble after being reduced to 62 for 3 in 14 overs. Adarsh Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, who made a hundred against the USA, and Priyanshu Moliya scored 21, 18 and 19 respectively, before throwing away their starts.
However, skipper Saharan and Sachin put on 215 runs for the fourth wicket to put India in a commanding position. Sachin led the charge with a knock of 116 runs off 101 balls with the help of 11 fours and 3 sixes.
Saharan, on the other hand, made 100 runs and gave Sachin support. On the back of their knocks, India put up a big score of 297 for 5 on the board. Gulshan Jha, who has played 38 matches for the Nepal senior team, picked up 3 wickets and was the standout Nepal bowler.
Saumy Pandey shines for India
Nepal made a steady start to their run-chase after Deepak Bohara and Arjun Kumal stitched together a partnership of 48 runs for the opening wicket off 13.2 overs.
Once Raj Limbani dismissed Bohara, the Nepal innings completely fell off as they slumped to 77 for 7 in 27.5 overs. Akash Chand and Durgesh Gupta showed some resistance lower down the order, but it was only to delay the inevitable.
Pandey has been stupendous for India throughout the tournament, and he did not let his team down against Nepal. The left-arm spinner picked up the wickets of Kumal, Uttam Magar, Dev Khanal and Bishal Bikram KC, and finished with figures of 10-1-29-4.
Kulkarni could not deliver with the bat, but had figures of 4-1-18-2. Raj Limbani, Aaradhya Shukla, Murugan Abhishek accounted for one scalp apiece. Nepal finished at 165 for 9 on the back of an unbeaten 45-run stand between Chand and Gupta.