Defending a modest total of 209, Indian bowlers maintainedtheir consistency throughout as they restricted New Zealand to 200 for nine intheir 50 overs to set up a title clash against Australia on Sunday.
Needing 18 off last over, medium pacer Sandeep Sharma kepthis cool as he gave away only nine runs as India made it to summit clash quitecomfortably in the end at the Tony Ireland stadium.
Young lad from southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu,Aparajith, got his second successive man-of-the-match award for his all-roundshow as he scored 44 before taking the important wicket of Robert O'Donell.
This is India U-19 team's fourth appearance in the final ofthe tournament having won the 2000 and 2008 editions while they were runners-upin 2006.
A target of 210 was never a tall-order for the Black Capscolts but all-rounder Aparajith (1/29) and the young sardar from Mumbai Harmeet(2/30) stifled the set New Zealand pair of Cam Fletcher (53) and O'Donell (29)in the middle overs to set it up for the Indians.
The duo gave away only 59 runs in the 20 overs between themand also shared three wickets. The highlight certainly was the BattingPowerplay overs where two of them gave away only 14 runs in the five overs.
While New Zealand lost the first four wickets for 63 runs,Carter-O'Donell duo put on 56 runs for the fifth wicket without much fuss. Itlooked as if New Zealand were cruising along towards victory beforeHarmeet-Aparajith applied brakes on scoring. Back to-back maidens in the 34thand 35th overs suddenly increased the pressure on the Kiwis.
As the pressure mounted, O'Donell closed the face of his batto an off-break from Aparajith to offer a simple return catch as India madedecisive inroads.
