South Africa & New Zealand Play Spoil Sport to Asian Party in Malaysia
In my previous post I had reported the possibility of an All Asian clash in the Semi Finals of the U-19 World Cup. While defending champions Pakistan and runners up of the last U-19 WC India made it easily to the last 4, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were trounced by New Zealand and South Africa respectively in the quarters.
Thus an India vs Pakistan final is very much a possibility and if it happens, it will be a repeat of the final of the 2006 version of the tournament.
I had also mentioned in the last post that a repeat of the 2006 WC Final was not possible, however, either I made an error in reading the line up for the quarters or Cricinfo made an error in listing it as the Semi Final line up reads as follows:
Wednesday 27th Feb: India vs New Zealand
Friday 29th Feb: Pakistan vs South Africa
Thus an India vs Pakistan final is very much a possibility and if it happens, it will be a repeat of the final of the 2006 version of the tournament.In this morning's Quarterfinal Pakistan beat Australia by 6 wickets to make their way into the last 4. Pakitan's bowling lived up to its reputation and bundled the Aussies out for 129. Their bastmen easily got to the target in 28 overs, albeit after an earlier hiccup which had seen Pakistan reduced to 32-3.
India's Quarterfinal against England has been covered in detail by Soulberry at TCWJ. In the other 2 matches South Africa demolished Bangladesh, bowling them out for only 41 after posting 242, while New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 80 runs after scoring 213.
There have been a number of young players that have made a mark in this tournament and I will cover their performances in another post.
Till then lets hope for a subcontinental clash on Sunday, 2nd March and say EYE!
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