Singapore: Indian U-23 team defeated UAE in the semi-final of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Emerging Teams Cup in Singapore on Friday and will will now take on Pakistan in the finals on Sunday. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the second semi-final of the tournament.
India posted a stiff total of 209 runs for UAE and later bundled them out for 162 runs in 48.3 overs. 19-year-old left-arm spinner Akshar Patel scalped four wickets for just 29 runs while Manprit Juneja and Lokesh Rahul played steady innings of 76 and 44 runs to hand India a comprehensive win.
UAE did have a brilliant partnership of 89 runs for the second wicket which was knitted by Shaiman Anwar (44) and Swapnil Patel (41) but middle-order wasn’t good enough to resist the Indian bowling.
Sandeep Sharma of Punjab and Baba Aparajith also had a great day with the ball as they picked up two for 31 and two for 25 respectively.
Earlier in the day, Juneja and Rahul played brilliantly to guide India to 10/208 in 49.5 overs. For UAE, it was the off-break bowler from Pakistan in Nasir Aziz who helped his side to wrap up the Indian innings with his five-wicket haul. He ended up with the figures of 5 for 51 in 9.5 overs.
Meanwhile in the second semi-final of the day which was played at The Padang, Pakistan managed to steal the show with a one wicket win over Sri Lanka. It was the all-rounder Hammad Azam who scored an unbeaten 66 to guide his side to a sensational win.
Chasing Sri Lanka's 230/7, the Pakistanis reached the target with seven balls to spare.