Sri Lanka Board President's XI ended India Blue’s winning streak while India Red registered their first win of the tournament.
The visitors beat the Himanshu Rana-led India Blue by six wickets while India Red triumphed over India Green by 87 runs.
India Blue and SLBP XI, who have two wins each to their credit, will face-off again in the final on Saturday, December 2, 2017. India Red and India Green will fight for the third place on the same day.
India Red vs India Green: Riyan Parag’s century helped India Red set India Green a stiff 274-run target while Arshdeep Singh’s five-for bowled the team to victory.
India Red, who were winless coming into the game suffered an early blow when inform batsman and skipper Prithvi Shaw returned to the pavilion with just nine runs on the board. While the rest of the top-order returned to the pavilion without substantial contributions, Parag shaped the innings with a well compiled hundred. Useful contributions from KL Nagarkoti (35 off 44) and Rahul Chahar (33 off 21) helped India Red to a respectable total after opting to bat.
Vivek Anand Tiwari then accounted for Ankush Singh in the first over while Shubman Gill was sent back by Arshdeep leaving the side on 0/2.
The middle-order then strove to keep the innings in the reckoning but was kept on a tight leash by India Red. Abhishek Sharma and Aryan Juyal built an 82-run stand to rebuild the innings until former was sent back by Chahar. Juyal followed him back leaving the team on 95 for four. A while later Harvik Desai was run out ending the fifth wicket stand with Priyam Garg for 49.
While Garg scored a half-century, the lower half of the lineup caved in for single digit scores. Arshdeep ran through the rest of the lineup as he bowled India Red to 87-run win.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/challenger-trophy-mens-under-19-one-day-limited-overs-2017-18/match/06India Blue vs Sri Lanka Board President's XI: The SLBP XI restricted India Blue to 203 after electing to field at the BKC Ground in Mumbai in their last match of the league phase. The visitors then scaled the target with 34 balls to spare.
Heshan Hettiarachchi claimed India Blue skipper Himanshu Rana in the third over to leave the side on eight for one. And 14 runs later the bowler castled A Varun Goud for eight. Manjot Kalra then joined hands with Om Bhosale to revive the innings. The duo had added 65 runs for the third wicket until Kalra was removed by Dhananjaya Lakshan leaving the home team on 87 for three. As the middle-order then succumbed to the SLBP XI attack, India Blue were left wobbling on 120 for seven. Shivam Mavi then joined MS Bhandge in the middle and the lower-order batsmen added 77 for the eighth wicket until the former was sent back by Hareen Buddila. In the next over, without a run added to the total, Bhandge too was sent back by Nipun Malinga leaving the side on 197 for nine. Six runs later, Mandeep Singh’s run out wrapped up the hosts innings.
Defending a modest score, India Blue got an early breakthrough. Santhush Gunatilleke was dismissed for eight by Mavi and a bit later Lakshan was run out leaving SLBP XI on 37 for two. Mavi then followed up with the wicket of Viswa Chathiranga to leave the visitors on 43 for three.
However, Dananjaya and Nuwanidu Fernando forged a stand to seize the advantage from India Blue. The pair stitched a 156-run stand that tipped the balance in the visitors favour. While Fernando missed out on a century by nine runs, Dhananjaya took the team to the finish line with an unbeaten 65-run knock.
Scorecard - http://www.bcci.tv/challenger-trophy-mens-under-19-one-day-limited-overs-2017-18/match/05
