Afghanistan A made history on October 27 at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman when they defeated Sri Lanka A by seven wickets to win the inaugural ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.
Afghan cricket fans were ecstatic about the win, and head coach Jonathan Trott, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, and Hashmatullah Shahidi celebrated the momentous occasion.
“Champions well-done boys congratulations everyone,” as Rashid captioned a video of the senior team’s ecstatic response to the win on social media.
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Sri Lanka A lost to Afghanistan A by seven wickets.
Throughout the competition, Afghanistan A demonstrated consistency. Their lone setback was losing to Hong Kong in the group round, but they did defeat India in the semifinals.
Afghanistan’s bowling performance in the summit match was excellent, as they held Sri Lanka A to 133/7. Sri Lanka’s top-order collapse was orchestrated by young stars Bilal Sami and Allah Ghazanfar, who each took five wickets. Sami’s three-wicket haul and Ghazanfar’s statistics of 2/14 in four overs made things simpler for their team.
Despite losing opener Zubaid Akbari on the first ball, Sediqullah Atal, who has been called up to the national T20I team for the Bangladesh series, maintained his outstanding form in the run chase by scoring an undefeated 55 off 55 to reach his sixth consecutive T20 half-century. The team also won the match with 11 balls remaining thanks to Mohammad Ishaq’s 16 off 6 balls, Karim Janat’s 33 off 27, and skipper Darwish Rasooli’s 24 off 20.
Also Read: WATCH: Pakistan’s Sufiyan Muqueem engages in verbal battle with Abhishek Sharma in Emerging Asia Cup 2024
The Afghan team eventually won the desired title in the sixth tournament edition after five unsuccessful attempts. Afghanistan A’s success places them on an impressive list of victors, which also includes Sri Lanka U23 (2017, 2018), India U23 (2013), Pakistan U23 (2019), and Pakistan A (2023).
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