U19 World Cup: How Uday Saharan and Sachin Dhas helped India beat South Africa and reach fifth straight final

U19 World Cup: How Uday Saharan and Sachin Dhas helped India beat South Africa and reach fifth straight final

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Feb 7, 2024 - 12:35
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U19 World Cup: How Uday Saharan and Sachin Dhas helped India beat South Africa and reach fifth straight final
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And just like that, South Africa choked in another knockout match of another ICC tournament. Yet again. Their two-wicket defeat to India in the first semi-final of the 2024 Under-19 World Cup at Benoni’s Willowmoore Park on Tuesday might have brought back haunting memories of the senior team’s loss to Australia in the ODI World Cup last year.

However, in a tournament like the Under-19 World Cup, it can be often difficult to predict the outcome of a game, or even a tournament as a whole. Because more than anything, young talents are being exposed to what a major international tournament feels like, and in the end, it’s that learning that matters.

For South Africa U19 side, led by Juan James, it is exactly that reality that struck in the semi-final against India. That, even if you strike in the very first ball of a match or an innings, there’s no certainty that you’re going to go all the way. Afterall, they say never celebrate too early because maybe that’s what cost them the game on Tuesday.

Saharan, Sachin show how it’s done

After having been asked to bat, it wasn’t an easy task whatsoever for the young Proteas as they huffed and puffed their way towards what not many might call it a competitive total — 244/7. Had there been even better contribution from the middle order, South Africa would have probably got to 280-290, but eventually had to rely on fifties from Lhuan dre-Pretorius and Richard Seletswane.

It was, though, with the ball when South Africa would take it up on their own. Afterall, they had the tournament’s highest wicket-taker playing in this contest, so they had nothing to worry about. Kwena Maphaka, a pacer who has shown potential with his swing and bounce, was at it in the very first ball of the chase with an almost unplayable length ball to Adarsh Singh that the latter could only chip it to the wicketkeeper Pretorius.

Fellow pacer Tristan Luus then joined the party to add more misery on the defending champions, inflicting the dismissals of Musheer Khan, Arshin Kulkarni and Priyanshu Moliya. By now, India were reeling at 32/4 in the 12th over.

How often do you see teams coming back from four down in the 12th over, and that too with such a modest total at the time? But the two ‘S’ (Saharan and Sachin) of the Indian middle-order took this as an opportunity rather than taking it as a pressure situation. The duo of Uday Saharan and Sachin Dhas forged a patient 171-run stand for the fifth wicket, to set the tone for victory. And it was even fitting that a cricketer named Sachin played a knock of 96 in a winning cause. Only if the two had stayed on for much longer and scored their respective centuries, it would have been even more perfect. But, in the end, what matters is that you carry the team forward irrespective of the situation and get the job done.

And that was exactly on the back of the minds of both of them. For Saharan, it was his duty as a skipper to not press the panic button. So, it was a rather sedate start for him. He kept leaving and defending the ball initially, especially against Luus who had taken three wickets early in the chase.

Saharan’s first boundary came in only the 36th ball he faced when he guided a shot over the slip cordon off Nqobani Mokoena’s ball.

While Saharan bided his time by absorbing the pressure, Sachin kept the scoreboard ticking with boundaries at regular intervals. Sachin, too, had to deal with this spirited South African bowling lineup. Especially Tristan Luus and Nqobani Mokoena, who kept banging short balls with the hope that they would find a breakthrough. However, Sachin dealt those short balls with courage, and even pulled a few shots through midwicket to find boundaries. Even before this partnership, one could sense a big fightback coming between these two because of the brave, positive attitude that the two batters had. There was no turning back in the contest and both of them knew that pretty well.

Saharan showcased nerves of steel and took 88 deliveries to get to his fifty, reaching there with a drive towards deep cover. Once he got to his fifty, the skipper looked to change gears. He displayed signs of an aggressive intent, with a couple of cut shots between the 40th and 41st over that would end up in boundaries.

For Sachin, it was the exact opposite. After he scored his half-century off 47 deliveries, boundaries started to dry up but there was still a sense that Dhas was somewhat getting prepared for another aggressive assault. However, some tight bowling from the South Africans limited Dhas’ scope of scoring runs freely post his fifty, although he would go onto nail a slog sweep over midwicket for a maximum off Juan James’ ball in the 40th over.

Dhas had been brilliant with his cover drives on Tuesday, but against Maphaka in the 43rd over, Dhas was early on the drive after being unaware of the lack of pace from Maphaka’s ball. That resulted in Dhas misjudging the ball and chipping it straight to David Teeger at cover.

India had their task cut out when Sachin Dhas was dismissed, with 42 needed from 47 balls, and especially towards the end, the Colts in Blue suffered a scare, following the wickets of Aravelly Avanish and Murugan Abhishek. India were even reeling at 227/7 at one stage and the contest could have gone either way.

However, for the young Proteas, Saharan stood between win and defeat. By the time Saharan was dismissed, India were already 244/8 and were just one hit away from victory. The match was a foregone conclusion by then. The late wicket of Saharan, however, was not the only thing that didn’t work in the hosts’ favour.

South Africa conceded as many as 27 extras during India’s chase. 23 of them wides and two of them no-balls, with Maphala accounting for most wides. Conceding those extras eventually affected their lack of rhythm and impacted in their ability to get those breakthroughs, allowing Saharan and Sachin to tick away with runs in the middle.

It was a close escape and as India get ready for a fifth straight U19 World Cup final, there’s a thing or two to learn for other youngsters like Arshin Kulkarni and Aravelly Avanish from the match-winners on Tuesday.

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