India A started their ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup T20 in Muscat with a close seven-run win against Pakistan A (Shaheens) on Saturday night.
Chasing 184 for a win, Pakistan Shaheens ended up at 176-7 in 20 overs.
Pacer Anshul Kamboj took 3-33 and Rasikh Salam (2-30) and Nishant Sandhu (2-15) impressed among the Indian bowlers.
Pakistan Shaheen needed 17 runs from the last over.
First ball from Anshul Kamboj was hit by Abdul Samad straight to Abhishek Sharma who made no mistake as Samad left for 25 from 15 balls. Third ball went for a boundary past the wicketkeeper as Pakistan needed 12 runs from 3 balls.
Next ball was a dot and the last ball went for a four past the wicketkeeper as Pakistan Shaheen fell short by seven runs as the full house at the OCA Stadium applauded.
Pakistan Shaheens started their chase of 184 in nice fashion with captain Mohammed Harris hitting a six of first ball of Indian pacer Anshul Kamboj but Anshul hit back by castling his defence in the next ball.
Arafat Minhas was the Shaheens’ top-scorer with a 29-ball 41 with five boundaries and a sixer. Qasim Akram (27 off 21 balls)
India ‘A’ after winning the toss, decided to bat first. India A put on 183 for eight wickets with captain Tilak Varma leading from the front with 35-ball 44 with two fours and two sixers.
Openers Prabhsimran Singh (36 off 19 balls) with three fours and sixers each and Abhishek Sharma (35 off 22) with five fours and two sixers gave India ‘A’ a great start at the Oman Cricket Academy grounds.
Nehal Wadhera (25) and Ramandeep Singh (17) made useful contributions as the score reached 183.
For Pakistan A, Sufiyan Muqeem took two wickets for 28 runs.
India 'A' next play against UAE (5.30 pm) while Pakistan 'A' meet Oman (1 pm) on October 21.
On Sunday, Sri Lanka A will take on Hong Kong at 1 pm and Afghanistan A meet Bangladesh A at 5.30 pm.
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