India will face Sri Lanka in the semifinals of the ICC Under-19 cricket World Cup after the island nation reached the last four stage with a six-wicket win over England, here on Sunday.
In an impressive allround performance, Sri Lanka dismissed England for just 184 and then overhauled the modest target in the 36th over.
Avishka Fernando hit 95 off 96 balls after W.H. de Silva grabbed three wickets to move to the semifinals.
This is only the third time Sri Lanka has reached the semifinals of this tournament since its inception in 1988.
In the home event in 2000, it reached the final where it lost to Mohammad Kaif’s India, while in 2010 in New Zealand, Sri Lanka reached the last four and finished in fourth position.
Skipper Charith Asalankasaid he was delighted to see his team bounce back after losing to Pakistan in the last league match.
“We had not batted well against Pakistan, so it was important to settle down and build big scores, which is what Avishka was able to do today,” he said.
The scores: England 184 in 49.2 overs (Taylor 42, Bartlett 25, Curran 25, Green 26, de Silva three for 34) lost to Sri Lanka 186 for four in 35.4 overs (Fernando 95, Asalanka 34).
