Pakistan U19 Lost To their Rivals India U19 By 1 wicket In world-cup U19 Semi-final.The Indian under-19 cricketers haven't quite enjoyed the dominance over Pakistan as their senior team has in World Cup matches. In fact, the Indian colts went into their quarterfinal clash against Pakistan in Townsville (Australia) on Monday with the dubious record of having lost five of their last six World Cup matches. After a bruising, nerve-jangling battle, the Boys in Blue walked out of the ground celebrating, having sealed a one-wicket victory to make the semifinals of the World Cup.The 10th wicket partnership of 10 runs between Harmeet Singh and Sandeep Sharma proved crucial in the low-scoring encounter as the Indians struggled to get past Pakistan's modest total of 136. They will now take on New Zealand, who also clinched a thrilling last-ball win against West Indies in the other quarterfinal of the day.Having narrowly missed out on victories in their last two encounters against Pakistan in the Asia Cup last month - losing one by one run and ending up with a tie in the final - the Indians did not want another one going down to the wire.It did not look that way as the Indians chased with comfort and were just 17 runs shy of victory with five wickets in hand and 86 balls to spare. With Baba Aparajith (51) and in-form wicketkeeper Smit Patel at the crease, no one would have then thought that the Indian innings would go into the 48th over.Things swung in Pakistan's favour as their pace attack pushed India on the back foot, snaring four wickets for just seven runs in the next four overs. With Pakistan sensing victory and their bowlers breathing fire, Harmeet and Sandeep showed tremendous temperament to did in deep and take their team home.Later, skipper Unmukt Chand put the win on destiny. "The win came as a huge relief. It got too close for comfort. I was very nervous, I had goose bumps. This time I thought that luck had to go our way after the last two matches against Pakistan. I felt that we just couldn't lose this one," Unmukt told TOI from Townsville.India looked to have the upper hand right from Ball One of the match. After India lost the toss, paceman Sandeep Sharma struck big, dismissing Sami Aslam - who had scored centuries on both the Asia cup matches against India - and then Imam-ul-Haq in the first over of the innings. Skipper Babar Azam fought hard with a gritty half-century to prove that his decision to bat first was right, but Ravikant Singh's seam (3/43) tore apart the Pakistani batting and left them tottering at 98 for eight. Batting at No. 9, Ehsan Adil struck four lusty sixes to take the total to 136.As it often happens in low-scoring encounters, late cameos make a huge difference to the result of the game and Adil's 35 almost did that. "We knew one of the batsmen would get going. 15-20 runs can be very crucial but we never thought that it would get so tight for us in the end," Unmukt conceded.Things could have been even uglier for India had Aparajith and Vijay Zol not put up a crucial 66-run partnership for the fourth wicket after they came together when the scorecard read 8 for three. The Indians were rocked by the searing pace of Adil and Zia-ul-Haq.Unmukt had no hesitation in conceding that batting needed a lot of work. "Sandeep bowled well and Ravikant and Passi were equally good. Fielding was also top notch but our batting has to click. We need to work on our mental strength on these pitches which are good for pace bowling. These tracks are good to bat on once one gets off to a start. It's more about a mental thing than the pace and bounce in the pitches," the Indian skipper remarked.However, the players took their minds off serious talk and celebrated their hard-fought win. "For now the coach has told us not to think about the semifinal against New Zealand. We will start discussing from Tuesday," Unmukt said.India play for a spot in the final on Wednesday.
Pakistan U19 Score: 136 all out, 45.1 overs (Babar Azam 50, Ehsan Adil 35; Sandeep Sharma 3-24, Ravikant Singh 3-43)
India U19 Score: 137 for nine, 48 overs (Baba Aparajith 51, Vijay Zol 36; Zia-ul-Haq 3-23, Azizullah 3-30, Ehsan Adil 2-25).
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