Published: Dec 19, 2016, 09:27 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 19, 2016, 09:27 PM (IST)
India take on Afghanistan in the first semi-final of the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup 2016 at Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Tuesday. India have been dominant in the tournament so far and have won all their matches in the group stage. On the other hand, after losing to Bangladesh in the first match of the tournament, Afghanistan have won 2 matches on the trot to bounce back and qualify for the semi-final. India have topped Group A with 15 points from 3 matches at an impressive net run-rate of +2.55, while Afghanistan finished second in Group B with 9 points from 3 games with a net run-rate of +1.42. Bangladesh and hosts Sri Lanka will battle it out in the second semi-final on Wednesday.
India are firm favourites to win this match, considering the way they have won all their matches with ease. Their campaign had kick-started against Malaysia at Colombo CC. India posted 289 for 8 in their 50 overs and managed to bundle Malaysia out for just 54 inside 23 overs. While it was leg-spinner Kamlesh Nagarkoti’s four-wicket haul that gave India a big win. On the other hand, three Indians — Prithvi Shaw, Het Patel and skipper Abhishek Sharma — all scored fifties to put up a challenging total. The then followed it up with a couple of six-wicket wins, first against Nepal and then against Sri Lanka.
After the initial hiccup against Bangladesh, Afghanistan put up an impressive show to upset Pakistan by 21 runs in their second game. But in their second match against Singapore, they bowled their opponents out for just 73 and chased the total down in just 25 balls! Opener Darwish Rasooli smashed a 15-ball 53, which included 9 fours and 2 sixes as Afghanistan ran away with the match.
India are the defending champions, having won the tournament in 2014, defeating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final at UAE. They are the only unbeaten side in the tournament so far, and will look to keep this run of theirs going this time around as well. Afghanistan are high on confidence at the moment after their emphatic win over Singapore and can surprise India in this match and qualify for the final. It will be a closely contested match.
Squads:
India: Abhishek Sharma (c), Het Patel (wk), Himanshu Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Chahar, Harvik Desai, Priyam Garg, Ayush Jamwal, Salman Khan, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prithvi Shaw, Shiva Singh, Yash Thakur, Heramb Parab, Anand Tiwari.
Afghanistan: Naveen-ul-Haq (c), Shamsurrahman Wali Khail (wk), Zahir Khan, Ikram Faizi, Naveed Obaid, Tariq Stanikzai, Yousuf Zazai, Darwish Rasooli, Imran Mohammadi, Mujeeb, Nisar Wahdat, Parwiz, Qais Ahmad, Rohed Janzai, Zahidullah, Ibrahim Zadran.
TIME: 09.00 GMT | 14.30 IST
