Kuala Lumpur, Feb 24 Proving that the luring Indian Premier League was no distraction, Indians thumped England by seven wickets to storm into the semi-finals of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup here today.

The Indians, seeded second behind defending champions Pakistan, sent England in to bat and rolled them over for 146 in 46 overs and then chased the paltry target for loss of only three wickets in 39.1 overs at the Kinrara Oval.

Opener Taruwar Kohli scored a patient unbeaten half century to help carve out an Indian win after left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah took 3 for 29 and seamer Siddarth Kaul and left-arm slow bowler Ravindra Jadeja claimed two wickets each to make it a low-scoring affair.

India will next play the winner of match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, who play their quarter-final match tomorrow.

The BCCI has directed Indian Premier League franchisees not to sign contracts with the players of U-19 World Cup squad for the time being as the Board feares that the money involved in the Twenty20 extravaganza would distract the juniors.

Kohli (63 not out of 111 balls) and other opener Sreevats Goswami (26 off 60 balls) tackled English pace attack with their cautious approach and put on 65 runs in 20 overs.

After Goswami was out in the next over, Tanmay Srivastava (22) combined with Kohli and the runs continued to come at a steady pace.

Off-spinner Tom Westley, however, tried to destabilise the Indian line-up by picking quick wickets of Srivastava and captain Virat Kohli (8) the space of 10 runs. (Agencies)