Vice-captain Vihan Malhotra’s brilliant stroke-play was ably supported by Aaron George’s composure as India U-19 defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in a rain-affected semi-final on Friday to book a place in the U-19 Asia Cup final with arch-rivals Pakistan.
Due to rain, the match was reduced to 20-20 overs after which the Indian bowling unit, which has performed brilliantly throughout the tournament, restricted Sri Lanka to 138 for 8 in 20 overs. In reply, left-handed batsman Malhotra (61 not out from 45 balls), who was bought by RCB in the recent IPL mini-auction, played flicks and pull shots with ease, hitting a couple of fours and two sixes.
His friend and India’s trouble maker in this tournament, George (58 not out from 49 balls) was technically perfect in his strokes as India achieved the target in 18 overs. India’s eighth appearance in the final was based on an unbroken 114-run partnership for the third wicket between Malhotra and George.
In the second semi-final, Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by 8 wickets and these two neighboring countries will meet in the continental final after a gap of 11 years. The last time India U-19 defeated Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in 2014, the team included players like Shreyas Iyer, Sarfraz Khan, Sanju Samson and Kuldeep Yadav.
India Under-19 did not get off to a good start as teenage IPL sensation Ayush Mhatre (7) and Vaibhav Suryavanshi (9) were dismissed by pacer Rashith Nimsar. Mhatre, who has had a poor tournament, got out after mis-timing a short ball from Nimsar trying to play a pull shot. Nimsar changed his pace to Suryavanshi who tried to close the mouth of the bat but the ball hit the edge of the bat and bounced in the air.
However, Malhotra started the innings by flicking Nimsar’s ball for a six and there was no looking back after that. In George’s case, a brilliant drive on the ball by off-spinner Kavija Gamage showed his class. Sri Lanka Under-19s were still fighting until the 13th over bowled by Dunith Shigera, where Malhotra played a short, strong pull shot for the first boundary, followed by a drive through extra cover and another front-foot pull shot that dropped to the edge of the grass.
After choosing the fielding, the bowling unit of the Indian team did well in the first 6 overs by restricting Sri Lanka to 28 runs for 3 wickets, after which captain Vimath Dinsara (32) and Chamika Henatigala (42) added 45 runs in the next six overs to take control of the innings. However, it was Sethmika Seneviratne’s short but quick innings – 30 off 22 balls – that took Sri Lanka to 135 runs. For India, spinners Kanishk Chauhan and Henil Patel took two wickets each.