Muscat: Player of the tournament Sediqulla Atal hit a match-winning 55 from 55 balls to guide Afghanistan A to their first-ever Emerging Teams Asia Cup T20 title at Oman Cricket Academy ground in Al Amerat on Sunday night. Afghanistan A chased the modest target of 134 runs set by Sri Lanka A in the final with the loss of three wickets.
Batting first, Sri Lanka A made a disastrous start as they slumped to 4-15 inside the powerplay in 4.2 overs. Right-arm off-break bowler AM Ghazanfar and medium pacer Bilal Sami struck double blows each on Sri Lanka’s top order at the start. Sami took the first wicket in the second over when he had Yashoda Lanka (1) caught by Afghan captain Darwish Rasooli. Player of the final Ghazanfar then came into act when he had Sri Lanka captain Nuwanindu Fernando stumped for 4 runs as the total was 7-2.
Sami then castled the defence of Lahiru Udara, semifinal hero against Pakistan, on 5 runs as Sri Lanka fell to 3-13 in 4 overs. Ghazanfar bowled Ahan Wickramasinghe (4) as Sri Lanka lost their fourth wicket. Sahan Arachchige then started the rescue act with Pavan Rathnayake as the fifth-wicket pair added 50 runs in 46 balls. Sahan remained not out on 64 from 47 balls with six boundaries. Pavan was run out for a 21-ball 20. Nimesh Vimukhthi made a 19-ball 23 before getting run out as Sri Lanka recovered to post 133 for 7 in 20 overs.
For Afghanistan A, Ghazanfar bowled tight, taking two wickets for 14 runs in his 4 overs, while Sami had the figures of 3-22 in 4 overs. In reply, Sri Lanka stunned Afghanistan when Zubair Akbari was clean bowled in the first delivery by Sahan Arachchige. Zubair had smashed a match-winning 137-run opening wicket partnership with Sediqulla Atal in the semifinal against India.
Spinner Dushan Hemantha made the next breakthrough when he had Afghan captain Rasooli caught by Lankan captain Fernando with the score at 43 for two in 6.2 overs. Rasooli made 24 from 20 balls with two fours and a six. The third Afghan wicket was down when medium pacer Ehsan Malinga bowled Karim Janat after a fighting 33 off 27 balls with three towering sixes. The score read 95-3 in 15 overs, requiring 38 runs more to win from 30 balls.
Opener Sediqulla continued his brilliant innings with newcomer wicketkeeper Muhammad Ishaq as they marched towards victory. Sediqulla reached his fifty in style with a huge six over spinner Vimukthi and smashed the next ball for a four to put the match firmly under the control of Afghanistan. They needed only four runs in the last two overs. Ishaq hit the winning four in the first ball of the 19th over bowled by Malinga.
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