India are into the final of the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup for a record ninth time after beating South Africa by two wickets at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Tuesday.

The defending champions edged the Junior Proteas in a thrilling semi-final that went right down to the wire.

Unfortunately for South Africa it was those middle overs while batting and bowling that came back to haunt them.

South Africa had a bat first and managed to grind their way up to a fairly decent total of 244/7. The opener, Lhuan-dré Pretorius, who was the Proteas most consistent batter throughout the World Cup scored 76-runs of 102 balls, which was reasonably slow according to his standards. Richard Seletswane worked exceptionally hard for his 64-runs of 100 deliveries as the Indian spinners strangled the South African batters. 24 runs by the captain Juan James and 23 by the seamer Tristan Luus helped South Africa to a defendable total.

Raj Limbani was the pick of the Indian bowlers with 3/60 in 9 overs, but the 1/38 in 10 by Saumy Pandey and 2/42 in 10 by Musheer Khan, made it difficult for the hosts.

India were in deep trouble at 32/4 thanks to three quick wickets by Tristan Luus and one by Kwena Maphaka. However, the South African attack was unable to maintain the pressure and this allowed the defending champions back into the game.

The Indian captain, Uday Saharan, played a gem of an innings with 81 off 124, while Sashin Dias equally good with 96 off 95, as the pair put on a 171-runs partnership for the fifth wicket. Their contribution with the willow led the team from the subcontinent across the line with seven balls to spare.

Maphaka was once again the pick of the South African bowlers with 3/32 in 10 to end his brilliant campaign with 21 wickets. Luus in turn took 3/37 in 10.

A big concern throughout the World Cup has been South Africa banking on a handful of the players carrying the team. They were Pretorius, Steve Stolk and Dewan Marais with the bat, as well as Maphaka with the ball.

Maphaka is hands down the biggest find for South Africa at the World Cup and he will most definitely represent South Africa at the highest level one day. His 21 wickets in the most ever by a South African at a Junior World Cup and is five more than the previous record of 16 by Wayne Parnell. He took three five-for at and this sees him become the first player in history to take four at Junior World Cups. The left-arm seamer is only turning 18-years-old later in the year and he should be able to play at least one more junior World Cup for South Africa.

The big guns in David Teeger and captain Juan James hardly featured. Teeger scored just 63-runs in six innings, while James scored just 43-runs in three innings and took no wickets. By comparison, the hard-working allrounder Luus on his own scored 149-runs in five innings, while also taking seven wickets.

On Thursday at 10:00 Pakistan and Australia will battle it out at Willowmoore Park in the second semi-final.