Kuala Lumpur: The Afghanistan U-19 team stunned their Pakistani counterparts by 185 runs to lift the U-19 Asia Cup title on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur.
Having posted just 248 runs on the board, the Afghanistan bowlers led by Mujeeb (5/13) and Qais Ahmed (3/18) dismantled the Pakistani batting as they shot them out for just 63 runs.
Mohammad Taha was the top scorer for Pakistan with 19 runs followed by skipper Hasan Khan, who could muster only 10 runs.
Earlier, batting first, Afghanistan got off to a good start with an opening partnership of 61 runs. Wicket-keeper batsman Ikram Ali Khil scored a magnificent century (107) of just 113 balls with 10 fours and two sixes. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (40) and (36) got their team to a good start but wickets kept on tumbling at regular intervals towards as the end which thwarted their chances of accelerating and posting a challenging total.
For Pakistan, Mohammad Musa was the best bowler as he scalped three wickets for 46 runs. Shaheen Afridi too bowled well and ended up with figures of 2/42. Hasan Khan and Mohammad Taha scalped a wicket each as they were successful in restricting Afghanistan to a meagre total.
This undoubtedly would go down as one of the greatest ever moments in Afghanistan cricket. With the seniors leading the way, the youngsters have now arrived on the international scene and would look to continue the way they have been going so far.