MUSCAT: India A will meet Afghanistan A (5.30 pm) and Pakistan A take on Sri Lanka A (1 pm) in the semifinals of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup T20 in Muscat on Friday.
India topped Group B with six points from three matches, winning all. Pakistan Shaheens, who lost to India A in their first match, won next two to come second in the group with four points.
In Group B, Sri Lanka A topped with four points on a better run-rate than Afghanistan with same points.
India beat hosts Oman by six wickets in the last group match of the tournament at the Oman Cricket Academy ground in Al Amerat on Wednesday night.
Batting first, Oman posted a decent total of 140-5 with the help of a valiant 41 runs from Mohammed Nadeem. Hammad Mirza remained not out on 28.
Wasim Ali batted well to score 24 before getting lbw to Sai Kishore. Captain Jatinder Singh (17) and Aamir Kaleem (13) also contributed in the opening wicket.
India A gave ball to eight bowlers with five of them taking a wicket each.
In reply, India rode on Ayush Badoni's 27-ball 51, Abhishek Sharma's 15-ball 34 and captain Tilak Verma's 36 not out to comfortably reach the target with 28 balls to spare. Ramandeep Singh hit 13 runs from 4 balls to complete the proceedings as India reached 146-4 in 15.2 overs.
Badoni hit 24 runs in an over from Oman spinner Samay Shrivastav to put scoring in top gear with three fours and two sixes and diminish any hopes for a fightback from the hosts after claiming early wickets.
DAHANI DRUBS UAE
Earlier, medium pacer Shahnawaz Dahani’s lethal spell of 5-12 drubbed UAE as Pakistan Shaheens recorded a dominant 114-run victory to march into the semifinals.
This was Pakistan A’s highest margin of victory in terms of runs in T20s, beating 74-run win against Oman on Monday.
Batting first, Pakistan A posted a commanding total of 179-4 in their 20 overs.
Openers Omair Yousuf (21 off 11 balls) and Yasir Khan (25 off 13) gave them a nice start.
Captain Mohammad Haris, who dropped himself from the opening position to one down, led the charge with an unbeaten 71 off 49 balls.
Haris hit six fours and three sixes in his whirlwind knock. Haider Ali smashed a 17-ball 32 with a four and three sixes to boost the run-rate in the final overs of their innings.
For, UAE Muhammad Farooq was the standout bowler, claiming 3-27.
In response, UAE struggled to get going, collapsing to 65 all out in 16.3 overs. Dahani rattled the UAE batting line-up with his five wickets in 4 overs. Sufiyan Muqeem and Abbas Afridi also took crucial wickets.
UAE captain Rahul Chopra (20 off 18) was the lone warrior as they folded for 65.
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