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After India successfully chased a record target of 311 in the ICC Men's U19 World Cup semifinal against Afghanistan on Wednesday, Aaron George, who scored a match-winning century, expressed his happiness at the Men in Blue's seven-wicket win.
Aaron George, who won the Player of the Match award, said he is grateful for getting the opportunity in this crucial game. The centurion added that he kept trusting his skills and believing in his batting, which helped him a lot. "I think I was very grateful that I got the opportunity to do this, and also a crucial game for the team, so very happy to be able to contribute. I knew I'd been batting well throughout, so the conversion, as you said, did matter. And yeah, very happy, and I'm happy I trusted that I had this coming and kept believing in my batting. (on the team looking good) Definitely, definitely. I think everyone played to their full potential, and I'm very happy to see our top order doing so well. And yeah, looking forward to the big final," George said, during the post-match presentation, as quoted by Cricbuzz. Earlier, Afghanistan posted a challenging 310/4 in 50 overs against India on the back of fantastic centuries from Faisal Shinozada and Uzairullah Niazai. The Afghanistan duo of Faisal Shinozada and Uzairullah Niazai stitched a mammoth partnership of 148 runs off 130 deliveries. Faisal Shinozada made 110 runs off 93 balls, with 15 fours. Uzairullah Niazai remained unbeaten on 101 runs off 86 deliveries, with 12 fours and two sixes. For India, Deepesh Devendran (2/64) and Kanishk Chouhan (2/55) scalped two wickets each. Chasing 311, Opener batter Aaron George made 115 runs off 104 balls, including 15 fours and two sixes, which sealed the game for India U19. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who made 68 off 33 balls, started well with George and added 90 runs for the first wicket. Vedant Trivedi (5 not out) and Vihaan Malhotra (38 not out off 47 balls) remained unbeaten as India registered a comfortable win while chasing a challenging target of 311 runs. This was also the highest successful run-chase for India in U19 ODIs, bettering 304 against England in Taunton in 2002. India also reached their 10th U19 World Cup final, the most for any team, followed by Australia with six in 16 editions of this tournament. (ANI)
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