Vaibhav Suryavanshi (left) and Ayush Mhatre during India’s U19 Asia Cup 2024 match vs UAE.©
Thirteen-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, riding on the hype of his rare talent, entered the semi-finals of the Under-19 Asia Cup by defeating the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 10 wickets in Sharjah on Wednesday. Batting first, UAE lost wickets at regular intervals and was all out for 137 runs in 44 overs. For India, right-arm medium pacer Yudhajit Guha took 3 wickets for 15 runs, while Chetan Sharma (2/27) and all-rounder Hardik Raj (2/28) took two wickets each.
India won in just 16.1 overs with the help of unbeaten half-centuries from the opening pair of Suryavanshi (76 runs in 46 balls) and Ayush Mhatre (67 runs in 51 balls).
Suryavanshi recently made headlines in the IPL auction, where he was bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1.10 crore, making him the youngest player to be sold at the auction in the history of the league.
While left-handed Suryavanshi decorated his innings by hitting three over the fence and four over it, Mhatre hit four fours and as many sixes during his innings. Most of the 13-year-old’s sixes came in the Cow Corner area.
India made a disappointing start to their campaign, losing to arch-rivals Pakistan by 43 runs in the group opener and then thrashing a weak Japan by 211 runs.
India will play Group B topper Sri Lanka in the semi-finals, while Group A leader Pakistan will face Bangladesh on Friday.
Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka remained unbeaten in the group stage.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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