Pakistan win Emerging Asia Cup after thrashing India in final

• Pakistan defeats India by 128 runs.
• Sufiyan Muqeem spins Pakistan to victory with three important wickets.
• Pakistan A had set India A target of 353 runs on a good batting surface.

All round Pakistan Shaheens defeated India A by 128 runs in the final played in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sunday to lift the Emerging Asia Cup.

Chasing a target of 353 runs, India were dismissed for 224 runs in 40 overs.

Spinner Sufiyan Muqeem caused all kinds of troubles for the Men in Blue by taking three important wickets including opener Abhishek Sharma, who scored 61, captain Yash Dull, who was set at 39 off 41, and Harshit Rana, 13, while conceding 66 runs in 10 overs.

Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Wasim and Arshad Iqbal claimed two wickets each.

For India, opener Abhishek Sharma was the top run-scorer with 61 runs in 51 balls.

Earlier, Pakistan A had set India A target of 353 runs on a good batting surface.

Middle-order batter Tayyab Tahir scored a brilliant century to help Pakistan post a massive total on the board after being asked to bat first.

Pakistan were in a precarious position after losing five wickets for just 187 runs but Tahir took the attack to the Indian bowlers and scored 108 runs in only 71 balls with the help of 12 fours and four sixes. He had an impressive strike-rate of 152.11.

Pakistan had got off to a strong start with openers Sahibzada Farhan (65 off 62) and Saim Ayub (59 off 51) scoring fifties and adding 121 runs for the first wicket. However, India bounced back with quick wickets in the middle overs.

Tahir added 126 runs in 98 balls for the sixth wicket with Mubasir Khan, who scored 35 runs.

Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Riyan Parag took two wickets each for the Men in Blue.

India A won the toss and choose to bowl first against Pakistan A in the highly-anticipated final.

India were unchanged from the semis while Pakistan made one change, with Mehran Mumtaz replacing Amad Butt.

It must be noted that India A defeated Bangladesh A by 51 runs in the second semi-final of the Emerging Asia Cup on Friday.

Chasing a target of 212 runs, Bangladesh were bowled out for 160 runs in 34.2 overs.

On the other hand, Pakistan A beat Sri Lanka A by 60 runs to qualify for the final of the Asian event.

Right-arm fast bowler Arshad Iqbal bagged his maiden List A fifer to help Pakistan A bowl out opponents for 262 runs in reply to 323-run target.

Pakistani skipper Babar Azam visited Pakistan Shaheens ahead of the Emerging Asia Cup final on Saturday.

Babar, 28, was seen talking with the players and giving them a boost of much-needed confidence as the young guns geared up for the final against India A.

Players like Mohammad Haris, Saim Ayub, Shahnawaz Dahani and others were sitting and listening to the skipper.

Lineups

India A: B Sai Sudharsan, Abhishek Sharma, Nikin Jose, Yash Dhull (capt), Riyan Parag, Nishant Sindhu, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Manav Suthar, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya, Harshit Rana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar

Pakistan A: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Omair Yousuf, Tayyab Tahir, Qasim Akram, Mohammad Haris (capt, wk), Mubasir Khan, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Wasim, Arshad Iqbal, Sufiyan Muqeem