India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and England qualify for the semi-finals of Redbull Campus Cricket

Dehradun, October 23, 2015: After three days and 12 grueling games of cricket – where college teams from India, Pakistan, England, Australia, South Africa, UAE, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka put up a fight in the group stages – Red Bull campus Cricket World Finals 2015 reaches semi-finals. The semi-finalists are: India, England, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.

Curtains came down on the group stage of Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals 2015 in thrilling fashion as England and India had a dress rehearsal for the semi-finals. The two teams battled hard, scoring 359 runs in 40 overs between them, outlining the intense action that lies ahead of us in the next two days.

Day three also saw Australia and the UAE get some reward for their long trips to India – they have previously suffered consecutive defeats in their respective groups. They were facing Bangladesh and Pakistan respectively, who were suffering a similar fate.

In the morning match, Australia lost their third toss in a row, and were put into bat by Bangladesh. It was a laboured performance from their batsmen as they struggled to set a 100-plus target. Perhaps it was about who wanted the victory more, and skipper Harry Dalton (29* off 26 balls) put his hand up. He demoted himself in the order to counter a middle order collapse, and provided a final flourish to help his team reach 118/8.

The second match of the day, UAE versus Pakistan, was more about proving a point. The UAE were rank outsiders in the tournament with no one giving them a sniff. But since the day they arrived they had this Group B match against Pakistan under consideration. They made the most out of it as they defeated Pakistan.

As for the third match of the day – India against England – it was business as usual between the contenders, as in the final group match, Deepak Khatri (73* off 46 balls) smacked a whirlwind half-century to counter England’s Nitish Kumar (97 runs off 51 balls) and took his side to victory. It proved that the right teams have progressed to the last four, and that no one can be sure who will take the grand prize home on Saturday.

“We were excited about today’s game. And we are proud despite the result. It was a great work out before the knock-outs and I cannot wait until the game starts tomorrow,” said England skipper Anish Patel.