Asia Cup U-19: Afghanistan dismantle Pakistan in final, create history

Afghanistan’s U-19 cricket team created history in the final of the Asia Cup U-19 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday as they dismantled Pakistan by 185 runs to win the tournament.

It summed up a great tournament for Afghanistan, who had won three out of their four league games and had defeated Nepal, who had earlier beaten India in the league stages, in the semi-final. The result summed up a magnificent edition of the Asia Cup where the lesser powers of cricket in Asia stepped up to the plate.

Pakistan chose to field first in the final but Afghanistan notched up a 61-run stand between Rahman Gul and Ibrahim Zadran. However, Ikram Faizi, the wicketkeeper and leading run-getter in this tournament, stitched partnerships with the middle order and notched up a magnificent 100 to boost Afghanistan to 248/7.

In response, Pakistan were blown away by the duo of Mujeeb Zadran and Qais Ahmed as they dismantled the Pakistan batting line-up. Mujeed picked up 5/13 while Qais Ahmed finished with figures of 3/18 as Pakistan were bundled out for 63 to lose by a massive margin.

Mujeeb’s haul summed up the domination of the Afghanistan bowlers in the tournament, becoming the second bowler to take a five-wicket haul. Earlier in the week, Mujeeb had taken 6/23 to bowl Pakistan out for 57. Speaking after the end of the match, Ikram, who was named the Man of the Match, said, “It was a tough wicket to bat initially but my captain told me to spend time in the middle and later on, it was easy for me to bat on.”

Mujeeb, who was the leading wicket-taker in the series and was named the Player of the tournament added that he had bowled with spirit which was the main reason for his hauls against Pakistan.