Pant stars as India crush Namibia to reach U19 WC semis

Dubai : Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant smashed 111 off 96 balls as power-packed India demolished Namibia by 197 runs in Fatullah on Saturday to cruise into the semi-finals of the Under 19 Cricket World Cup.All-rounder Anmolpreet Singh scored 41 and took three for 27 in his first appearance in the tournament as India piled up 349 for six after electing to bat, and then bowled the African side out for 152 in 39 overs.Three-time champion India, coached by batting great Rahul Dravid, will take on the winner of Sunday’s quarter-final between strong contenders England and Sri Lanka in the first semi-final in Mirpur on 9 February.Dravid said his team had started to play almost perfect cricket.”I think we have played some good cricket right through the tournament. At some stages, I still feel we have not played a perfect game, but this was our best all-round performance.”We had a few hiccups earlier on in the batting but it is nice to see that we have recovered and we are playing well. We’re playing good cricket, focusing on the processes and not worrying too much about the results and things are going well.”Dravid said he had reminded his boys not to be over-confident or complacent. “When you come into knock-out stage, you can’t take any team for granted. Namibia put in some very good performances to get here. Before the game started, we spoke about the dangers of being complacent and we wanted to get a win.