Images from the Under-19 World Cup semi-final match between India and South Africa on Tuesday.
Fuelled by splendid fifties by Sachin Dhas and captain Uday Saharan, defending champions India battled past South Africa by two wickets to storm into the final, their fifth consecutive, of the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Benoni on Tuesday.
Dhas smashed a brilliant 96 from 95 balls, hitting 11 fours and a six, while Saharan stroked a solid 81 from 124 balls to bring India back into the contest after a horror start. The duo put on a match-winning partnership of 171 runs for the fifth wicket as India hunted down the target of 245 with just seven balls to spare.
Five-time champions India will take on the winner of the second semi-final between Australia and Pakistan in Sunday's title clash.
The beginning of India's chase resembled a debris yard, losing four wickets for just 32 runs in the first 12 overs.
South Africa's new-ball bowler Kwena Maphaka jolted India in the first ball of their innings, dismissing Adarsh Singh with a nasty climbing delivery that the batter had no choice other than snicking to wicket-keeper Lhuan-dre Pretorious.
His partner Tristan Luus soon joined the fun with the wickets of Musheer Khan, Arshin Kulkarni and Priyanshu Moliya as all three India batters were indecisive outside the off-stump while hanging their bats to dry.
But the Indians found their saviours in Dhas and Saharan, who dished out innings of vastly contrasting nature and tempo.
Dhas was aggressive despite the situation his team was in, but Saharan was happy to keep his end going.
Dhas' knock was a treatise on playing cross-batted shots as he cracked a six, pulled fours besides those well-placed nudges through the vacant spots on the on-side.
Saharan, on the other hand, was more traditional but was not entirely hesitant to bring out an exquisite drive or rasping cut whenever an opportunity was there for him to do so.
Dhas reached his fifty in 47 balls, fittingly, with a pull off pacer Riley Norton and Saharan reached his half-century in 88 balls with a cover drive off off-spinner Juan James.
In the process, Saharan also became the highest run-getter in this World Cup with 389 runs.
But these two youngsters showed immense maturity not to squander the start they got; piling runs to keep the pressure squarely on the hosts.
A second hundred in this event was there for his taking, but Maphaka, the tournament's highest wicket-taker so far, deceived him with a slower ball that Dhas just managed to scoop to David Teeger at covers. However, the breakthrough came a wee bit late as India hung on to squeeze past the line notwithstanding the run out of Saharan when the scores were level.
Earlier, India's bowlers limited South Africa to 244/7 with a disciplined performance on a pitch that offered them considerable assistance.
Wicketkeeper-batter Lhuan-dre Pretorious stroked a solid 76, while Richard Seletswane scored 64 to rally the hosts.
After losing Steve Stolk and David Teeger inside the first 10 overs, South Africa consolidated with Pretorious and Seletswane adding 72 runs for the third wicket but they took nearly 22 overs for that.
The South African top-order just could not get going against India pacers Naman Tiwari (1/52) and Raj Limbani (3/60) who found appreciable pace, bounce and carry from the Willowmoore track to trouble them.
Even when Seletswane and Pretorious were reconstructing the South Africa innings, they failed to score at a brisk pace, as the run-rate for a large part remained under four.
Left-arm spinners Saumy Pandey (1/38) and Musheer Khan (2/43) along with off-spinner Priyanshu Moliya shackled the host batters' progress in this phase, bowling a tidy line and length.
Pretorious, who tried to bring in some momentum hammering Moliya for a six over midwicket, departed just as the alliance began to blossom.
Pretorious, who made his third successive fifty in this event, attempted to cart Musheer over midwicket but a leaping Murugan Abhishek held on to a stunner to end his stay.
However, Seletswane carried on with lot of determination and completed his fifty in 90 balls with a single off left-arm seamer Tiwari.
But Seletswane also could not build on the platform as he soon fell to Tiwari, as his hoick ended in the hands of a running-in Moliya in the deep.
Juan James (24 off 19 balls) and Tristan Luus (23 off 12 balls) helped South Africa amass 81 runs off the last 10 overs but they might find that middle-over lethargy tough to overcome.
However, South Africa, the 2014 champions, can take a modicum of consolation from the fact that they are the first side to score more than 200 against this Indian attack.
