U19 World Cup: India thrashes Pakistan to qualify for final

Christchurch: India thrashed Pakistan by 203 runs to qualify for the final against Australia in Under 19 World Cup.

Expected to be a nail-biter, the India-Pakistan semi-final match for the series ended up a little cold as the rival team crashed to an abject defeat, giving an easy win to the men in blue.

Pakistan, whose batting had been shielded by their bowling attack throughout the tournament, were finally found wanting today as they collapsed to a heavy 203-run defeat at the Hagley Oval.

India U19 team captain Prithvi Shaw said, "it was a good all round performance from everyone. We are doing a great job. The plan was simple. Just look for the loose balls and convert into boundaries. They (fast bowlers) are doing a great job in the tournament, hope they do a good job in the finals as well."

Also Read: Federer closes in on Nadal after Australian Open win, Cilic 3rd

"First class - really a good experience playing with the seniors. I'm feeling proud and thanks to the crowd as well. It'll be a good challenge (against Australia) for us. Let's see what happens," he further stated.

Hasan Khan, Pakistan Captain also stated that the game was pretty much in balance but unfortunately the batsmen did not perform well. "Nothing worked. We missed a couple of chances. Things didn't really go our way. The batsmen didn't perform up to the mark. The bowlers have been performing really well for us," he said.

Here are the brief scores:

India 272/9 (Shubman Gill 102*, Arshad Iqbal 51/3)

Pakistan 69 (Ishan Porel 17/4, Riyan Parag 6/2)