Christchurch, January 29
After bagging lucrative deals at the IPL auction, the Indian colts will be eager to deliver when they face archrivals Pakistan in the semifinals of the ICC U-19 World Cup here tomorrow. Three-time champions India have played like a professional outfit, winning all four matches in an emphatic fashion, including the quarterfinal against Bangladesh. For two-time winners Pakistan, it has not been smooth sailing all the way. They lost their tournament opener to Afghanistan before winning three in a row.
Moreover, the last two wins against Sri Lanka and South Africa have been close and hard-fought. Pakistan’s bowling, led by left-arm pace sensation Shaheen Afridi, has done the job for the team but batting has been far from convincing.
Ali Zaryab Asif has done the bulk of scoring in the middle-order, rescuing the side from tight situations twice. He hit 59 against Sri Lanka, and followed it up with a gritty 74 against South Africa in the quarterfinals.
High on pace
Indian pacers Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi would look to exploit Pakistan’s fragile batting. Having secured potentially life-changing deals at the IPL auction with their performances in the World Cup, the young Indian guns would be high on confidence. KKR paid Rs 3.2 crore and Rs 3 crore for Nagarkoti and Mavi, respectively, while left-arm spinners Anukul Roy and Abhishek Sharma were bought by Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils for Rs 20 lakh and Rs 55 lakh, respectively. Batting mainstays Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill too impressed the IPL teams with their showing in New Zealand.
However, heading into the semis, all these players must have put the post-auction euphoria behind them. The highly-rated Indian batsmen will have to be wary of Afridi, who has taken 11 wickets in four games, including a six-wicket haul against Ireland.
Pakistan will be more familiar with the conditions, having played their quarterfinal here. India had played their last game against Bangladesh in Queenstown. After the quarterfinal, the explosive Gill had said that the team was looking forward to playing Pakistan. “We remembered our loss in the Asia Cup, so were determined to win the match against Bangladesh. As for the Pakistan game, we are looking forward to the match since we did not play them in the Asia Cup. We’re sure it will be a good match,” said Gill. — PTI
India vs Pakistan: Head-to-Head
21Number of times India and Pakistan have met at U-19 level. While India won 12 times, Pakistan triumphed in eight games. One match ended in a tie.
Form guide
India have been in fine form so far, winning all four matches by big margins. Batting first, they have won by at least 100 runs; and, while chasing, they are yet to lose a wicket.
Pakistan have three wins from their four matches, their only defeat coming in in their opening match against Afghanistan, where they failed to defend 188. Thereupon, they won three matches in a row.
Players to watch out for
INDIA: Shubman Gill is India’s top run-getter so far in the tournament. The stylish batsman has three fifties from three outings to the middle. He has been dismissed only once.
Kamlesh Nagarkoti: Nothing is as exciting as extreme pace, and that’s what Nagarkoti has. He started by blowing away the Australian top-order, and never took his foot off the pedal.
PAKISTAN: Shaheen Afridi is the leading wicket-taker for Pakistan. The left-arm seamer will need to be on song against the Indian batting line-up that has been in fine form. While not express pace, Afridi gets a lot of bounce and late movement.
Dravid on India-Pak contest
All about experience
Our preparation and our planning don’t change at all. We don’t approach this game any differently from any other, we still approach it to play good cricket, try and execute our skills... But from an experience perspective, I’m excited about it, the fact that, irrespective of the results, we get our U-19 boys to understand what it’s like to play an India- Pakistan game. At this level, all it is about is about experiences
Game against Pak nice for boys
It’s great that we’ve been able to, in a way, set up an India-Pakistan game. There is a different buzz about it in the sense that we know it is followed probably a little bit more closely than some other games. For the last couple of years, we haven’t played Pakistan at this level, so it’s really nice for our boys to have that experience of playing Pakistan
Enjoyed playing against Pak
From my perspective, I really enjoyed playing Pakistan, they had a really good team in my time and had some great cricketers. It was always a privilege to play against them. We got on quite well with a lot of the Pakistani boys. It was always great to play them, we won sometimes, we lost sometimes, but we always came away with great experiences
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