U19 Asia Cup 2021: India beat Afghanistan by 4 wickets to book semi-final berth

The Indian boys made sure they clinched victory against Afghanistan and book their spot in the semi-finals of the U19 Asia Cup 2021. The Men in Blue defeated the Afghan boys by 4 wickets with 10 balls to spare in their last group match at the ICC Academy Ground No. 2 in Dubai on Monday. 

Opener Harnoor Singh (65) was the highest scorer for India, while Kaushal Tambe (35*) and Raj Bawa (43*) followed up with their heroics to shepherd India's chase. 

India will take on either Bangladesh or Sri Lanka in the semifinals on Thursday.

A 4-wicket win over Afghanistan U19 has ensured India U19’s qualification for the semi-final of #U19AsiaCup to be played on Thursday.

Details - https://t.co/dJGeSLsmuF

 - ACC pic.twitter.com/wiRagZf79M

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 27, 2021

Chasing 260, India had got off to an excellent start courtesy of Harnoor Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi putting on 104 runs for the first wicket. However, Afghanistan stormed right back into the contest with three wickets in quick succession.

Noor Ahmad came in and dismissed Singh (65) and Raghuvanshi (35) while Bilal Sami got the wicket of Shaik Rasheed (6). Skipper Yash Dhull and Nishant Sindhu later put on 46 runs for the fourth wicket, but as soon as India started to gain momentum, the latter was dismissed for 19 by Khalel Ahmad.

India was still 98 runs away from victory and skipper Yash (26) was stumped off the bowling of Noor Ahmad. Not even a few minutes later, Aaradhya Yadav (112) was scalped by Ahmad and India saw the board at 197/6, needing 63 runs to win. However, Raj Bawa (43*) and Kaushal Tambe (35*) knocks helped guide India to a victory over Afghanistan.

As for the Afghan boys, Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai had played an unbeaten knock of 86 as Afghanistan posted 259/4 in the allotted fifty overs. Their skipper Suliman Safi also played a knock of 73 off just 86 balls with the help of seven boundaries and one six.