Indian bowlers put up a commendable performance on a helpful pitch in the ICC Under-19 World Cup semifinals in Benoni, limiting South Africa to 244 for seven. Despite efforts from wicketkeeper-batter Lhuan-dre Pretorious (76 off 102 balls) and Richard Seletswane (64 off 100 balls), the host team couldn’t unsettle the five-time defending champions.
South Africa struggled initially, losing early wickets of Steve Stolk and David Teeger within the first 10 overs. However, Pretorious and Seletswane steadied the innings with a 72-run partnership for the third wicket, albeit at a slow pace. The Indian pacers, led by Naman Tiwari (1/52) and Raj Limbani (3/60), capitalized on the pitch conditions, causing trouble for the South African top-order.
Despite the partnership between Pretorious and Seletswane, the run rate remained low, with left-arm spinners Saumy Pandey (1/38) and Musheer Khan (2/43) along with off-spinner Priyanshu Moliya (shackling the progress of the host batters. Pretorious attempted to accelerate the scoring but was dismissed by Musheer Khan after hitting a six.
Seletswane showed determination, reaching his fifty off 90 balls, but fell to Tiwari soon after. Despite late contributions from Juan James (24 off 19 balls) and Tristan Luus (23 off 12 balls), South Africa struggled with their run rate in the middle overs. However, they can draw some solace from being the first team to score over 200 runs against India in this tournament.
