India U19 continued with their rampaging run in the ICC U19 World Cup 2016, as they thumped Sri Lanka U19 by 97 runs in the first semi-final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday.
Anmolpreet Singh was adjudged the man of the match for his brilliant innings of 72 runs. This was Singh's second match of the tournament and what a way to assert his dominance with the blade.
Sarfaraz Khan carried on with his good form with the willow. The Royal Challengers Bangalore youngster scored yet another half-century on Tuesday.
The partnership between Sarfaraz and Anmolpreet turned the game in India's favour. India struggled early on when they lost the wickets of their captain Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant in quick succession. But at the end, India managed to post a total of 267 runs for the loss of nine wickets.
Washington Sundar, Mahipal Lomror, Armaan Jaffer and Mayank Dagar contributed with their bats as well.
While chasing, Sri Lanka were bundled out for a meagre total of 170 runs. Kamindu Mendis top scored with 39 runs. Rest of the batting order could not handle the pressure and Indian bowlers capitalised on it. The wickets kept on tumbling at regular intervals.
Avesh Khan and Mayank Dagar bowled brilliantly for India. The two picked up five wickets together. Rahul Batham, Sundar and Khaleel Ahmed picked up a wicket each as well.
For Sri Lanka, Asitha Fernando was the pick of the bowlers. Fernando picked up four wickets.
India U19's fielding were not up to the mark as they missed a number of chances. The match would have wound up a lot before than it did. They dropped catches, missed run outs and that definitely did not please Rahul Dravid.
India U19 captain Ishan Kishan has been out of form with the bat and that is not a good sign before they head into the big final.
India are into their fifth U19 World Cup final and they will look to lift the trophy for the record-breaking fourth time. They will face either of Bangladesh or West Indies in the big final on 14 February.
