India have cruised into the semifinals of the Under-19 cricket World Cup after hammering Bangladesh by 131 runs in Queenstown, New Zealand, yesterday, according to an ICC press release. One of the pre-tournament favourites, India had too much firepower with bat and ball at the John Davies Oval, booking a final four showdown with Pakistan in Christchurch on Tuesday.

Australia will play giant-killers Afghanistan in the other semifinal, also in Christchurch, on Monday. Afghanistan shocked hosts New Zealand with a 202-run thumping in their quarterfinal on Thursday.

India were dismissed for 265 in the 50th over batting first, No 3 Shubman Gill anchoring the innings with 86 while Abhishek Sharma hit a brisk 50 before the tail folded when a score closer to 300 was on the cards.

It was still more than enough for their neighbours, Bangladesh mustering just 134 all out in the 43rd over. Only opener Pinak Ghosh, who top-scored with 43, made it past 20.

Shubman Gill, who was later declared player of the match, said the intensity was more following their recent loss to Bangladesh. “We remembered our loss in the Asia Cup and so were determined to win the match today. As for the Pakistan game, we are looking forward to the match since we did not play them in the Asia Cup. We’re sure it will be a good match.”

Bangladesh captain Saif Hassan felt the slow batting early on spoilt their chances, saying: “Our approach was not good. We should have taken some calculated risks early on. After the first 10 overs, the middle-order had to take the risks and collapsed. If we had been positive early on, then it would have been easier for our middle-order.”