Christchurch: Shubman Gill did justice to his reputation as being one of the exciting talents in Indian cricket after he slammed a stylish hundred as India overcame arch-rivals Pakistan in the second semi-final of the U-19 World Cup by 203 runs at the Hagley Oval on Tuesday.
India would now face Australia in the final in Tauranga on Saturday.
His 102* of 94 balls is India’s first hundred in the ongoing competition and it was followed by some world class bowling by Ishan Porel, who wreaked havoc with the ball, grabbing four wickets conceding just 17 runs in six overs to skittle Pakistan for just 69 runs, after setting a 273-run target.
India won the toss and opted to bat first and did justice to that decision as skipper Prithvi Shaw and Manjot Kalra (47) put up an 89-run stand. Shaw, who looked good on 41 failed to ground his bat despite a dive was the first one to fall as Pakistan had found an opening and looked to capitalise on it.
But Gill, who has had a terrific tournament so far with his previous scored being 63, 90*, 86 had other ideas in mind as he looked to counter attack and put Pakistan back under pressure. His classy knock, which included some beautiful shots came of just 94 deliveries with seven fours. The youngster, who was recently bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders at the IPL auctions held fort at one end while Anukul Roy (33) and Harvik Desai (20) chipped in as India posted 272 runs on the board. Mohammad Musa, who had earlier effected Shaw’s run-out took four wickets while Arshad Iqbal ended with figures of 3/51.
