Pakistan makes winning start at ICC U-19 World Cup

Greenshirts beat Afghanistan by 109 runs. Captain Babar Azam man-of-the-match for his 75 runs.

BUDERIM, AUSTRALIA: The Pakistan Under-19 side has had a dream start at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup with a 109 run win against Afghanistan at the John Blanck Oval ground, Buderim on Saturday.     

The young national side carried forward the momentum from its warm up matches against Australia, having beating them 2-1 in a three match series.

Afghanistan had won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat, who piled up 253 runs at the loss of six wickets in their allotted 50 overs.

The Afghanistan team folded for 144 runs in 45.1 overs.

Earlier Pakistan captain Babar Azam led from the front scoring 75 runs with seven 4s. He was ably supported by Mohammad Nawaz, who scored 66 runs off just 50 balls including seven 4s and a six.

Umar Waheed and Usman Qadir remained unbeaten at 43 and 1 runs, respectively, while Imam-ul-Haq (25) and Sami Aslam (21).

Aslam was declared man of the match and batsman of the series at the recently concluded Under-19 Asia Cup.

For Afghanistan, Sayed Shiraz and Mohammad Yamin shared two wickets each, giving away 43 and 54 runs, respectively.

Hashmatullah Shaidi was the pick of the batmen for Afghanistan scoring 50 runs in 77 balls including three boundaries.

Mohibullah (30), Mohammad Javed (20) and Afsar Khann (16) were the batsmen who reached double figures for their national side.

For Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq grabbed four wickets conceding 30 runs while Zafar Gohar bagged two wickets for 25 runs.

Azam was declared Player of the match.