India A clinch thrilling win over Pakistan

Pakistan Shaheens score 176 in response to the target of 183

India A defeated Pakistan Shaheens by seven runs in a nail-biting finish in the fourth match of the ACC Men's Emerging Asia Cup on Saturday.

Close to victory, the Men in Green scored 176/7 within 20 overs in Al Amarat, Oman.

The match came to an end with Abbas Afridi (18)* and Zaman Khan (1)* on strike.

Mohammad Haris, the team captain, kicked off the second innings but quickly departed, denting the visitors' hopes after scoring just six runs off two balls.

Haris' wicket left all the responsibility on the other opening batter, Yasir Khan.

After Omair Yousuf (2) got caught in the second over by Nehal Wadhera, Qasim Akram and Yasir stitched around 50 runs together.

Solely, Yasir scored 33 off 22 balls whith three sixes and a single four while Qasim ended up scoring 27 for the team with four boundaries.

Scoring nine runs, Haider Ali headed towards the pavilion as the fifth wicket of the innings when Rasikh Salam bowled the final ball of the 14th over

Thanks to Arafat Minhas, who played a key role in helping the Shaheens reach 100 runs in the 12th over.

However, Minhas was dismissed in the 16th over of the innings, just short of his half-century. He was caught by Wadhera off Rasikh Salam's bowling after making 41 runs off 29 balls, including five boundaries and one towering six.

With the Shaheens being 17 runs away from the victory, witnessed Abdul Samad leaving the stadium after making 25 off 15 balls, including two boundaries and two sixes.

Meanwhile, Indian bowlers, Rasikh Salam and Nishant Sindhu bagged two wickets each while Anshul Kamboj solely took three wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan Shaheens' bowlers made a solid comeback to restrict India to 183-8 after they had a fiery start in the powerplay.

In the fourth match of the ACC Men's Emerging Asia Cup, Tilak Varma-led side opted to bat first.

The innings began with Abhishek Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh opening the match.

Batting first, Sharma scored 35 off 22 balls after smashing two towering sixes and five shots heading towards the boundary.

While Singh made 36 off 19 balls with three shots upwards and three towards the boundary.

Aiming for a half-century, 24-year-old Sharma got caught by Qasim Akram of Shaheens after Sufiyan Muqeem delivered the first ball of the sixth over and removed the left-handed batter.

Followed by Singh, getting dismissed at the fourth ball of the seventh over delivered by Arafat Minhas.

Contributing the most, Tilak Varma, the captain of the team came at three and made 44 runs off 35 balls with two sixes and two fours.

Staying till the 18th over, Varma scored a lot of runs with Nehal Wadhera who scored 25 off 22 balls until he was dismissed by Sufiyan Muqeem when India A was at 114-3.

The captain of the Men in Blue was showed the way to pavilion after Arafat Minhas stretched his hands and dismissed the fifth Indian player when Zaman Khan delivered the second ball of the 18th over.

In addition, Ramandeep Singh was the last and eighth wicket of the innings.

He was run-out by Mohammad Imran after making 17 runs for the team.

Other players, including Ayush Badoni (2), Nishant Sindhu (6), Anshul Kamboj (0), Rahul Chahar (4), and Rasikh Salam (6), were not even able to score 10 runs for the team.

The first innings came to an end with Chahar and Salam on strike.

Shaheens, on the other hand, were great with the ball, ending up taking eight wickets in the first half of the game.

With Imran, Zaman, Minhas, and Akram taking one wicket each while Sufiyan Muqeem solely bagged two wickets.