Pakistan batsman Mohammad Huraira said ahead of their Under-19 World Cup semi-final that they will take that game against India as “a normal game”. Huraira scored 64 off 76 balls on Friday as Pakistan reached the 190-run target to beat Afghanistan in the quarter-finals of the U-19 tournament.
Their next game is a clash against rival India in Potchefstroom on Tuesday where it will be decided who registers a place in the final of the U-19 tournament.
“The India-Pakistan rivalry has always been there,” said Mohammad Huraira. “There will be a bit more pressure, but we’ll get used to it. Myself, should I play, I’ll try and play it like a normal game, and we look forward to it.”
However, India are the defending champions and have won the Under-19 title four times. Pakistan were back-to-back champions in 2004 and 2006 as well. They beat India in 2006 final in Colombo and won the title convincingly where they bowled out their counterparts for only 71 while pursuing a decent total of 109.
On Friday, Pakistan chased down to victory with 53 balls to spare in Benoni but Huraira’s innings became the headline after being ‘Mankaded’ by Afghanistan bowler Noor Ahmad. Afghan captain Farhan Zakhil further admitted after his side’s shocking six-wicket defeat that they may not use the process if they had been in a better position in the game.
“At that time, we realised let’s do something different to build pressure on Pakistan,” Zakhil shared cricinfo.com.” To be honest, it was not in the spirit of the game.”
But Mohammad Huraira shared that the fault was his as he was out of his crease.
“I should’ve been in the crease, and I’ll learn from the mistake. I’ll ensure it isn’t repeated again,” expressed the batsman.
Meanwhile, India reached the semi-finals with a 74-run win over Australia on Tuesday, maintaining their winning streak in the tournament after having won all of their three group games. The second semi-final will be featured Bangladesh against New Zealand, also in Potchefstroom, on Thursday as well.
