ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2020, Semi-final 1, India v Pakistan: Preview, likely XI, prediction

It’s that age-old rivalry renewing itself in the first semi-final of the ICC U19 World Cup: India and Pakistan will clash in what many will say should be the final of the tournament. As always, it’s expected to be a thrilling encounter, between a dominant force at this level in India, and a supremely talented crop of Pakistani players.

The venue is far removed from the sub-continent, in distant Potchefstroom, but even then, there is expected to be something of a crowd – that’s always the case with this particularly rivalry.

As far as the cricket is concerned, it’s hard to say which way this will go. Pakistan were uber professionals in their quarter-final win over Afghanistan. There were many legitimately expecting the Afghanistan spinners to trip up Pakistan in the clash, but the Pakistan pacers put in an exceptional display to contain the Afghans, before the batsmen got around to chasing down the 189-run target with utmost ease.

However, India will be an altogether different challenge. They have shown different types of winning this tournament. They have utterly dominated teams and strolled to victory, and has also been pushed the edge and fought back from difficult situations, as they did in the quarter-final against Australia.

How will these young’uns deal with the impossible pressure of an India-Pakistan match though? That might be the differentiating factor, on the day, how they deal with the pressure.

Head to head

Historically, India, at this level, has fared better than Pakistan. In 23 matches between the sides, India have won 14 of them, and lost just eight. At World Cups, however, India have lost five of their nine matches.

Key players

Yashasvi Jaiswal (India): The left-hand opener has been India’s highest scorer so far with his solid style of batting, and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares against Pakistan’s pacers. His clash against Amir Khan, who can already bowl at mind-boggling speeds, should be one to watch out for.

Muhammad Hurraira (Pakistan): The Pakistan batsmen made his debut against Afghanistan, and impressed immediately with his 64. He was the subject of a Mankad dismissal though, and will be hoping to go one better and put that behind him at the biggest match in his blossoming career.

Likely XIs

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Divyansh Saxena, Tilak Varma, Priyam Garg (c), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Siddhesh Veer, Atharva Ankolekar, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh

Pakistan: Haider Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Rohail Nazir (c/wk), Fahad Munir, Qasim Akram, Mohammad Haris, Irfan Khan, Abbas Afridi, Tahir Hussain, Aamir Ali, Amir Khan

Prediction India to fend off a fighting effort from Pakistan.