Colombo: Pakistan A beat India A team by 128 runs in the final of the Emerging Asia Cup ODI. Pakistan team A pulled off a massive win thanks to a brilliant century from youngster Tayyab Tahir and brilliant bowling performances from the likes of Sufiyan Muqeem, Mehran Mumtaz, and Arshad Iqbal.
Pakistan has become the second team to successfully defend its title in the Emerging Asia Cup. He has won the trophy for the second time in a row after a brilliant performance.
Batting first, defending champions Pakistan A bundled out the Indian innings for 224 in 40 overs after scoring 352 for eight. For India A, opener Abhishek Sharma scored 61 runs in 51 balls with the help of five fours and a six. Sai Sudarshan (29 off 28 balls) and skipper Yash Dhull (39 off 41 balls) failed to convert good starts into big innings.
For Pakistan A, Sufiyan took three wickets for 66 runs in 10 overs, including the wickets of Abhishek and Dhull. For the team, Arshad Iqbal, Mehran Mumtaz and Mohammad Wasim took two each while Mubasir Khan took one wicket. Almost all the players in the India A team were in the under-23 age group with no experience of international cricket.
The Pakistan A team had at least eight players with experience of representing the Pakistan national team. For Pakistan A, Tahir hit 12 fours and four sixes in his 71-ball knock. He shared a 126-run partnership with Mubasir Khan (35 off 47 balls) for the sixth wicket to take the team’s score past 300.
Chasing the target, Sudarshan and Abhishek, who were in good rhythm, got India off to a good start. While batting aggressively, both completed the half-century of the team’s runs in six overs. Sudarshan, who scored an unbeaten century in the group stage against Pakistan, was dismissed by Arshad in the ninth over to break the 64-run partnership for the first wicket.
After this wicket, the runs of the Indian team were curbed and in the 13th over, Nikin Jose (11 runs in 15 balls) was caught by the bad decision of the umpire. Wasim’s ball hit near his waist but the umpire called it leg before. Abhishek and skipper Yash Dhull batted smartly to bring up the team’s century in the 16th over. In the same over, Abhishek completed his half-century by taking a single off Sufiyan Mukim.
Dhull reduced the pressure against this bowler with two fours in the 18th over. Abhishek got out in the 20th over after hitting a six. He hit five fours and a six in his 51-ball innings. The pressure of reducing the required run-rate was getting to the Indian batsmen and the team lost the wickets of Nishant Sindhu (10 runs) and Dhull in the 25th and 26th overs in the space of two runs. Mumtaz broke India’s hopes by removing Dhruv Jurel (9 off 12 balls) and Riyan Parag (24 off 17 balls).
Harshit Rana (14) hit two sixes in his nine-ball innings to increase the excitement a bit but became Sufiyan’s third victim, leaving the team at 194 for eight in the 32nd over. The last two wickets increased the wait for Pakistan’s victory by adding 46 runs.
Earlier, Saim Ayub (59 off 51 balls) and Sahibzada Farhan (65 off 62 balls) shared a 121-run partnership to give Pakistan a strong start after being invited to bat. Both took an aggressive approach from the very first over of the innings and scored runs easily against the Indian bowlers. This partnership was broken by Manav Suthar in the 18th over by getting Ayub caught behind by Jurel. Ayub hit seven fours and two sixes in his innings.
Farhan, who hit four fours and as many sixes in his innings, was run out on a brilliant throw by captain Dhull. Omar Yusuf (35 off 35 balls) and Tahir propelled the innings without slowing down. Riyan then got India back in the match by dismissing Yusuf and Kasim Akram (0) on consecutive balls.
Nishant trapped skipper Mohammad Haris (two runs) leg before, reducing Pakistan’s score from 183 for two to 187 for five. Tahir got good support from Mubasir after this. While Mubasir was playing cautiously, Tahir was batting aggressively from the other end.
This partnership was broken by fast bowler Rajvardhan Hungergekar by dismissing Tahir in the 45th over. He then removed Mubasir in his next over as well. In the last over, Wasim scored an unbeaten 17 off 10 balls to take the team’s score past 350. For India, Hungergekar and Riyan took two wickets each while Harshit, Suthar, and Sindhu took one wicket each.
