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Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Aaron George, India's opening pair etched their names in the U19 World Cup cricket history as young Indian colts chased down a historic 311 against Afghanistan to make it to the title clash.
A calm, composed century from George and a blazing half-century from Suryavanshi, highlighting a huge contrast in batting approaches, led Team India to their sixth-straight U19 World Cup final and overall record-breaking 10th appearance in the title clash of the marquee age group tournament. Batting first, centuries from Faizal Shinozada (110 in 93 balls, with 15 fours) and Uzairullah Niazai (101* in 86 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes) stood out as Afghanistan made a gigantic 310/4, with Deepesh Devendran and Kanishk Chauhan taking two wickets each. In the run-case, Suryavanshi slammed another half-century, his third in the tournament, scoring 68 in just 33 balls, striking nine fours and four sixes in a knock that took the pressure off Indian team. These runs were the majority of the 90-run opening stand. In this tournament, Suryavanshi has scored 264 runs in six innings at an average of 44.00 and a strike rate of over 147, with three fifties and a best score of 72. His 15 sixes are the most by an Indian in a U19 WC edition and joint-second-highest, with South African sensation Dewald Brevis's 18 sixes in the 2022 edition being the record. George, with his 115 in 104 balls, with 15 fours and two sixes, joined a group of Indian stars with century in U19 WC knockouts, including Cheteshwar Pujara (129* vs England in 2006 SF), Unmukt Chand (111* vs Australia in 2012 final), Rishabh Pant (111 vs Namibia in 2016 edition QF), Yash Dhull (110 vs Australia in 2022 SF), Ravneet Ricky (108 vs Australia in 2000 SF), Yashasvi Jaiswal (105* vs Pakistan in 2020 SF), Shubman Gill (102* vs Pakistan in 2018 SF) and Manjot Kalra (101* vs Australia in 2018 final). These two made it easy for skipper Ayush Mhatre (62 in 59 balls, with five fours and four sixes) and Vihaan Malhotra (38* in 47 balls, with three fours) to chase it down with seven wickets and almost nine overs left. Now, India will meet England in the title clash on Friday. (ANI)
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