It was a high-voltage Under-19 Asia Cup encounter, Afghanistan almost pulled off an upset despite setting a poor target of 53 in their campaign opener. Pakistan batters made an easy run chase tough for themselves as they barely managed to get over the line by losing six wickets in the second innings.
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first. They got off to a horrendous start losing five wickets for 12 runs including three ducks. Ahmad Khan wreaked havoc with the new ball taking three wickets in the powerplay overs to break Afghanistan batting lineup’s back. However, it was the run out of opener Suliman Arabzai that started the collapse. Skipper Suliman Safi tried to survive the new ball but eventually fell to Ahmad.
Afghanistan would have been bundled out for less than 50 if not for Nangyalai Khan who scored 15 runs from 27 deliveries. No other batter in the Afghanistan side managed to score in double digits. In the 24th over, Afghanistan were bundled out for 52. Apart from Ahmad, Zeeshan Zameer and Awais Ali picked up two wickets each.
Chasing a total of 53, Pakistan were expected to get over the line without breaking a sweat but it turned out quite the opposite. They got off to a cautious start but lost two wickets quickly. New-ball bowler Bilal Sami got opener Abdul Wahid out followed by a two-ball duck for Muhammad Shehzad. Opener Maaz Sadaqat tried playing out the new ball and stitched the highest partnership (24 runs) in the match.
As Pakistan looked like cruising towards the target, they suffered a batting collapse losing four wickets in a span of nine runs. Left-arm chinaman Noor Ahmad went for runs but picked up three wickets whereas Izharulhaq Naveed picked up one. But opener Sadaqat held on to one end and scored the winning runs. He remained unbeaten for 14 off 46 deliveries and ensured that the tailenders are not exposed to Afghan bowling lineup. The 53-run target was chased down in 16.4 overs.
In the other two matches of the day, India beat UAE by 154 runs and Sri Lanka beat minnows Kuwait by 274 runs.
