A match-winning 65-run seventh wicket stand between Raj Bawa and Kaushal Tambe ensured a fighting four-wicket victory for India over a gritty Afghanistan as they entered the semi-final of the U-19 Asia Cup tournament in Dubai on Monday.
Bawa (43 not out) and Tambe (35 not out) joined forced when India were in trouble at 197 for six but they kept calm to take the 'Boys in Blue' to their required 260-run target with 10 balls to spare.
This was after in-form opener Harnoor Pannu (65) and his partner Angkrish Raghuvanshi (35) added 104 for the opening stand. However, the middle order caved in with skipper Yash Dull (26) and Nishant Sindhu (19) failing to convert starts. It was left to Bawa and Tambe to take the team home.
With this win, India are now second in the group behind Pakistan, who have won all their matches.
India will face the winners between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who play in the last group league encounter.
With India finishing second, they would meet the topper of the other group.
It was a game where India returned to winning ways.
Put into bat at the ICC Academy – Oval 2, Afghanistan skipper Suliman Safi's patient 73, coupled with a blistering unbeaten 86 off 68 balls by Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai propelled Afghanistan to a respectable 259/4.
Chasing 260, Harnoor, who hit nine boundaries and Angkrish got off to a flyer as India raced to 44 for no loss in six overs.
It was raining boundaries as the two openers hammered the Afghan attack with utmost ease.
India were cruising at 74/0 after 12 overs before Raghuvanshi was trapped leg before by left-arm unorthodox spinner Noor Ahmad (4/43) to break the 104-run opening stand.
India slipped to 116/3, as Afghanistan removed Harnoor and Shaik Rasheed (6) cheaply. Then skipper Dhull and Sindhu tried to take the game deep, but Khalel Khalel pegged India back by removing Sindhu to have them reeling at 162/4.
Then Noor Ahmad got his third after Ishaq stumped Dhull in the 36th over, as India lost half its side for 183. Noor then trapped Aaradhya Yadav (12) to leave India teetering at 197/6.
Bawa and Tambe had an enormous task at hand but they forged a match-winning stand to take their side to the last four stage with the latter fittingly finishing the game with a boundary.
Brief Scores: Afghanistan U-19 259/4 (Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai 86 not out, Suliman Safi 73; Kaushal Tambe 1/25) lost to India U19 262/6 (Harnoor Singh 65; R Bawa 43 not out; Noor Ahmad 4/43) by four wickets.
