ACC U19 Asia Cup: Vihaan Malhotra and Aaron George help India sink Sri Lanka in rain truncated affair to secure final berth

A century partnership between Vihaan Malhotra and Aaron George helped India sail past Sri Lanka by eight wickets in a rain-truncated semifinal of the ongoing ACC U19 Men's Asia Cup in Dubai on Friday, December 19.

Rain forced the match officials to reduce the fixture to 20 overs per side, and India chased 139 with Vihaan and George scoring match-winning half-centuries. India had a few early hiccups as captain Ayush Mhatre and Vaibhav Suryavanshi fell to Rasith Nimsara with single-digit scores inside the powerplay. However, the Lankan Lions couldn't capitalize on the early success as Vihaan and George added an unbeaten 114-run stand for the third wicket to help India cross the line in 18 overs.

Vihaan scored an unbeaten 61 off 45 balls with the help of four boundaries and two sixes, whereas George finished with 58* off 41 balls, laced with four boundaries and a six. The duo relied on the rotation of strike and hit boundaries when the Lankan bowlers erred in line and length. They shared the Player of the Match award for their composure in a high-stakes run chase.

Earlier in the day, Mhatre chose to chase to keep a tab on the DLS score. Sri Lanka's opening batters Viran Chamuditha  Dulnith Sigera fell inside the first four overs, and a terrific run out of Kavija Gamage by Vedant Trivedi had Sri Lanka languishing at 28/3 in 5.1 overs.

However, Sri Lanka captain Vimath Dinsara and Chamika Heenatigala added 45 runs for the fourth wicket to lift their side from the doldrums. Dinsara failed to make the most out of his start as he was dismissed by Kanishk Chouhan for 32. His wicket opened the floodgates as Sri Lanka went from 73/4 to 84/6 in a gap of 10 balls.

Heenatigala then steadied the ship alongside Sethmika Seneviratne before falling to an individual score of 42. Seneviratne's 22-ball 30 took Sri Lanka to 138 for the loss of eight wickets at the end of their 20-over mark.

India will now face their arch-rivals Pakistan in the summit clash. Notably, Pakistan hammered Bangladesh by the same margin in the other semifinal. The final will be played at the ICC Academy Ground on Sunday.