Afghanistan A won the Emerging Asia Cup titleImage Credit Source: Screenshot/X
Afghan cricket, which seems to be continuously strengthening its identity in world cricket, is proving to be a big strength in Asia. After the good performance of the senior team in tournaments like the World Cup, T20 World Cup and Asia Cup, Afghanistan A has now made history in the Emerging Asia Cup. In the tournament held in Oman, Afghanistan A easily defeated Sri Lanka A in the final and won the title for the first time. Sediqullah Atal, who proved to be the star of the tournament, played another useful innings in the final while 18-year-old Mohammad Ghazanfar proved to be the star of the final match.
In this tournament that has been taking place in Muscat for a few days, India A and Pakistan Shaheen were considered candidates for the title. Both teams played in last year’s final, where Pakistan won the title. This time, however, both teams were eliminated after losing in the semi-finals and it was Afghanistan A, who defeated India A in dominant fashion, who finally wrote their name on the trophy. In the final held on Sunday, October 27, Afghanistan A won by 7 wickets.
Bilal-Ghazanfar defeated
Sri Lanka A, who reached the final after defeating defending champions Pakistan Shaheen in the semi-finals, did not get off to a good start in the title match. In just 26 balls, the team lost 4 wickets and only 15 runs could be scored. Bilal Sami and Ghazanfar worsened Sri Lanka’s condition by taking 2 wickets each. However, after this, Sahan Arachchige formed a partnership with Pawan Ratnayake and Nimesh Vimukthi and led the team to a worthy score of 133 runs in 20 overs. Arachchige played an innings of 64 runs in 47 balls. While Sami took 3 wickets for 22 runs and Ghazanfar took 2 wickets for 14 runs.
!#MensT20EmergingTeamsAsiaCup2024 #ACC pic.twitter.com/5SlqE4292E
– Asian Cricket Council (@ACMedia1) October 27, 2024
Afghanistan had no problem
At the same time, this result also did not turn out to be great for Afghanistan, who achieved the highest score of the tournament with 206 runs against India A in the semi-finals. Although he lost his wicket on the first ball, Sediqullah and captain Darwish Rasooli managed the innings together. Sediqullah also made a half-century and remained strong until the end. To support them, first Karim Janat and then Mohammad Ishaq played important innings, thanks to which Afghanistan A achieved the target in 18.1 overs and won the title for the first time.
