India vs South Africa U19 2nd ODI: IND win by 8 wickets after Vaibhav Suryavanshi blitz

Ah here come the lightning alerts and there go the players. We had seen something similar in the previous ODI as well. For now, the only thing we can do is wait and watch.

Well howdy do! How about it. It is still darkish out there but the rains have stayed away long enough for the umpires to decide that we can have some cricket now.

There has been a reduction of overs and a revision of the target: India now need to chase down a target of 230 in 42 overs. That means India now need to score 127 more runs in 186 balls.

Well there were some sparks flying somewhat right before the umpires led the players off the field. Trivedi defended the ball back to the bowler Kruiskamp, who proceeded to throw it right back at the striker's end. Trivedi had to take evasive action and then the batter and bowler shared a nice long stare-off. Cold water thrown on the fledging hostilities by the umpire though, who have been told there is lightning in the distance and they promptly move players off the field.

India 103/2 in 11 overs

Well, Suryavanshi hit his first four of the innings after that hat-trick of sixes, hitting the fourth ball over cover for but not getting the ball all the way over the boundary. He takes a single next ball and then Trivedi just blocks out the last ball, giving us more Suryavanshi for the next over.

Suryavanshi is on 68 off 23 balls, Trivedi on four off six.

Well, Suryavanshi is in his own little bubble at the moment. He wallops the first ball of the eighth over by Majola, right down the ground for a six. That takes him past 50 in 19 balls.

Well, this is just incredible batting at the moment. Aaron George with three rather conventional shots to get a hat-trick of fours in the fourth over and then Basson continues... to get whacked. Suryavanshi smashes the first ball of the fifth with a pull for yet another six and that takes India to 52 in 4.1 overs in an ODI match!

Well how about it. JJ Basson bowled the first over, George ran a leg bye first ball and then Suryavanshi, goes upper cut for the very first ball he faced for a six. He then pulls the second, misses, big top edge that the wicketkeeper chases but it was out of his reach. The batters ran a single there, then George with a handsome cover drive that is pulled back quite impressively at the boundary, three runs taken there. Suryavanshi then pulls the fifth ball for a monster six.

That makes it 17 runs off the first over.

There you go, a competitive target but not something that India should find too difficult to chase if they keep their eyes on the prize and not look for some browny points in the eyes of any IPL franchise scouts as a side quest.

What an innings this has been from Rowles, almost single-handedly pulling South Africa out of the doldrums. He takes a single off the second ball to get to the mark in 106 balls. Meanwhile, Ambrish picked another wicket, this time of wicketkeeper Lethabo Phahlamohlaka and so its a bit of a procession for South Africa at the back end.

Well Rowles stepping up now. Bosman takes a single first ball of the 39th over by Ambrish and then Rowles pulls the second over midwicket for a six. The fourth ball is fuller, Rowles swings away over midwicket again for an even bigger six. A single next ball, Rowles finishes the over on 84 off 89, Bosman on 29 off 58.

Jason Rowles as reached 45 in 55 balls. He has taken to steady accumalation now instead of going for the big shots and all of a sudden, he is close to getting a half-century at a decent strike rate. It's the reward you get if you decide to hunker down in the non-T20 formats of cricket, something younger players around the world seem to be slowly forgetting.

Daniel Bosman, on the other hand, is on 11 off 32 and is somewhat struggling with rotating strike.

Another loose dismissalthere. Manack goes walking down the track second ball of the 20th over and just lobs it back to the bowler Chouhan. He takes an easy catch in his follow through.

South Africa 96/4 in 19.2 overs

Bulbulia takes a big expansive waft at a fullish delivery from Kishan, no timing whatsoever and it goes straight into the hands of the fielder at covers. That is a soft dismissal and well, South Africa have crumbled a bit in these early stages.

Some extra bounce fourth ball of the seventh over, Lagadien tries to cut it. He gets an outside edge and wicketkeeper Abhigyan Kundu takes a good low catch with the ball dipping on him.

Lagadien with the first boundary of the match third ball of the second over bowled by Deepesh Devendran. Lagadien then managed to get another four off the fourth ball of the fourth over bowled by Devendran.

He is on 13 off 17, Van Schalkwyk on two off seven.

South Africa win the toss once again but this time, they choose to bat first. They had chosen to chase the last time around, remember.

Sunil Gavaskar wasn't too impressed with how India performed in the U19 Asia Cup finals against Pakistan. Particularly the manner in which the batters were dismissed. Here is what he wrote in his column for Mid-Day:

"The IPL auction took place during the tournament and perhaps some of those selected thought they were playing a T20 game instead of the 50-over format. Some of the dismissals to reckless shots were most disappointing and while it’s understandable that a huge target had been set nobody seemed to be ready to fight it out.

"If they win the U-19 World Cup, it will help erase the disappointment, but to do that they must learn to play the game situation and not to try to live up to the image they have got. Yes, generational talent or not, it’s performing talent that matters most."