U-19 Asia Cup: Pakistan thrash Afghanistan by 83 runs

Pakistan U19 thrashed Afghanistan by 83 runs in a one-sided encounter of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19s Asia Cup at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai on Tuesday.

Ubaid Shah was Pakistan’s MVP with the ball as the 17-year-old picked up three important wickets and helped his side get on a dominating seat. This is the third consecutive win for the Green Shirts in the tournament. 

Batting first, Pakistan posted a colossal 303-run total on the scoreboard as three players — Shamyl Hussain, Shahzaib Khan, and Riaz Ullah — delivered with the bat greatly.

Shamyl and Shahzaib came as openers and provided Pakistan with a dream start as both batters combined for 115 runs before the former lost his wicket in the 17th over.

Shamyl played an electrifying knock of 75 runs off just 54 balls with seven fours and five sixes at an astounding 138.88 strike rate. The 19-year-old’s rapid innings helped Shahzaib on the other as he took his time to settle on the pitch.

Shahzaib took charge of Pakistan’s batting after Shamyl's dismissal and played a responsible knock of 79 runs with 10 boundaries. He lost his wicket to Faridoon Dawoodzai in the 34th over.

Pakistan’s batting struggled as only four batters managed to score in double figures. The way wickets kept falling, it looked like the Boys in Green would have to settle for somewhere under 250 runs but Riaz stayed on the pitch and played a crucial innings of 73 runs.

Pakistan set a 303-run target for Afghanistan.

Afghanistan were never in the game, they were met with early blows, losing four wickets for just 60 runs in 13 overs and were bowled out for 220 runs in 48.4 overs.