Afghanistan embarrass Pakistan in final to make history

U19 side minnows claim 185-run win to defeat Men in Green

KARACHI: Afghanistan’s U19 cricket team made history as they won the Asia Youth Cup for the first time, trouncing Pakistan in the final at the Kinrara Academy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday.

Pakistan lost to Afghanistan by a whopping 185 runs, with the unbeaten Ikram Ali Khelof making 107 runs. For Pakistan Muhammad Musa took three wickets to restrict Afghanistan to a gettable 248.

However, Pakistan’s batting collapsed in embarrassing fashion, being skittled out for just 63 in just 22.1 overs. Mujeeb Zadran was the star of the show, with figures of 5-13, as only two Pakistani batsmen managedto reach double figures — Muhammad Taha (19) and skipper Hasan Khan (10).

“It was just not our day,” a shell-shocked Hasan told The Express Tribune. “We had trouble dealing with Afghanistan when we faced them in the pool matches so it wasn’t a case of us being complacent. Their bowling attack is really good and it showed today. We tried our best to overcome the mistakes we made in previous matches but Afghanistan were by far better than us. They deserve all the credit for outplaying us. We will have to work hard in the future if we are to avoid losing buy such a huge margin.”