Mumbai boy Divyansh Saxena took two catches while fielding in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal against Pakistan at Potchefstroom on Tuesday. And the second catch turned out to be a game-changer.
At 146/4, Mohammad Haris — batting on 21 off 15 — swept Atharva Ankolekar over deep mid-wicket. He didn’t get the elevation right. Saxena ran to his right to dive and pluck the low offering. The dismissal changed the script of the match as Pakistan lost the remaining five wickets for just 26 runs.
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With the bat, Saxena scored a patient fifty (59* off 99 balls) to support Yashasvi Jaiswal (105* off 113 balls) as India beat Pakistan by 10 wickets. The boys in blue chased down 173 in 35.2 overs.
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Saxena is a product of the Dilip Vengsarkar Academy in Chembur.
His cricket took off once his parents admitted him to the sports-friendly Don Bosco School in Matunga. He shot to fame with a double hundred for Mumbai in the U-14 tournament against Gujarat. He had finished the tournament with 435 runs.
At the U-16 level, he scored 505 runs at the Vijay Merchant Trophy at an average of 72.
"There was some anxiety the night before the team was announced for the World Cup. That’s natural even though you know you have performances to back your case. I was just scrolling through my Instagram feed and saw my name in the squad, so it was a relief when I came to know that my name was on the list," Saxena had told this publication in an interaction in December 2019.
The India U19 team has booked its spot in the final, for the seventh time.
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