Afghanistan U-19 boys have signalled the shift in Asian cricket dynamics as they reigned supreme by defeating Pakistan U-19 to lift their maiden ACC U-19 Asia Cup trophy, which is also their maiden International title.
IT IS ALL OVER!!! Pakistan U19 are bowled out for 63 in 22.1 overs – Afghanistan U19 win the ACC U19 Youth Asia Cup 2017#AFGvsPAK #ACCU
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) November 19, 2017
Buoyed by a match-winning knock by their wicket-keeper, Ikram Ali (107 n.o off 113 deliveries), Afghanistan U-19 managed to post 248/7 in their 50 overs on a slow track after their openers, Rahmanullah Zadran (40 off 53) and Ibrahim Zadran (36 off 76) provided a cautious start to the innings which saw them put up 61 runs for the 1st wicket.
Muhammad Musa (3/46), Shaheen Afridi (2/42) and Hassan Khan (1/36) were the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan U-19.
Pakistan chase got off to a horrible start as Mujeeb Zadran removing both the openers in the first 4 overs and were soon reduced to 42/5 in the 16th over as Qais Ahmad picked up 2 wickets including the important wicket of Muhammad Taha to end any realistic attempt at chasing the target.
Wickets kept falling as Mujeeb effected a run-out and picked up 2 more wickets to leave Pakistan U-19 at 61/8 in the 21st over. Qais Ahmad & Mujeeb completed the rout as they picked up the last 2 wickets to have Afghanistan U-19 bowl out Pakistan U-19 for only 63 runs in 22.1 overs to win by a big margin of 185 runs.
Congratulatory tweets were made by ACB Chairman Atif Mashal and President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani:
Congratulations to our U19 heroes for a very comprehensive win. They are now the new Asian champions. I am very proud of them.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) November 19, 2017
Many congratulations!!! AFGHANISTAN is the CHAMPION of ACC U19 Youth Asia Cup 2017. Historic day for Afghanistan and @ACBofficials.#AFGvsPAK #ACCU19YAC pic.twitter.com/VkfZw3rPDj
— Atif Mashal عاطف مشعل (@MashalAtif) November 19, 2017
Mujeeb finished with brilliant figures of 5/13 off his 7.1 overs while Qais Ahmad contributed 3/18 off his 6 overs. Mujeeb as adjudged the Man of the Series for the U-19 Asia Cup for his overall tally of 20 wickets in 5 matches giving away only 111 runs with an economy of 2.76 runs per over and strike rate of 12.05 deliveries per wicket.
Here's the AFG (U-19) skipper Naveen Ul Haq Murid receiving the Trophy and the cheque #PAKvAFG #ACC #YAC #Final pic.twitter.com/Dij55j230X
— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) November 19, 2017
