MUSCAT (WS News) – India A on Saturday defeated Pakistan by seven runs in last over thriller of ACC Men’s Emerging Teams T20 Asia Cup 2024 at the Oman Cricket Academy Ground in Muscat, Oman.
The Team Green scored 176 runs in pursuit of mammoth target of 184 runs set by India. Arafat Minhas remained high scorer with 39 runs while Yasir Khan made 33 runs. Qasim Akram made 27 runs.
After opting to bat first, the Blue Team took a flying start as opening pair Abhishek Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh smashed 35 and 36 respectively. After Abishek was removed by Sufiyan Muqeem, Tilak Varma maintained the momentum and smashed 44.
Nehal made 25 runs as Pakistani pacers struggled to restrict the opponent team from building a tough total.
Mohammad Haris-led 15-member Shaheens team, which is placed in the Group B, will take on the hosts Oman on 21 October followed by their third group match against the United Arab Emirates on 23 October. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the semi-finals to be played on 25 October followed by the final on 26 October.
Pakistan Shaheens participated in a five-day training camp at the Hanif Mohammad National High-Performance Centre in Karachi before departing for Oman.
This is the first edition of the ACC Emerging Teams tournament which is being played in the T20 format as the previous five editions in the 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023 were played in the List-A format. Pakistan have won the tournament in 2019 under Saud Shakeel and in 2023 under Haris.
Apart from skipper Haris, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Rohail Nazir, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Omair Bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Moqim are the capped player in the Shaheens squad. Abdul Samad, Ahmed Daniyal, Yasir Khan and Zaman will represent the Shaheens for first time.
Squads
Pakistan Shaheens: Mohammad Haris (captain), Abdul Samad, Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohmmad Imran Jnr, Omair Bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Rohail Nazir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Moqim, Yasir Khan and Zaman Khan
India A: Tilak Varma (C), Abhishek Sharma (VC), Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Nishant Sindhu, Ramandeep Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Ayush Badoni, Anuj Rawat (WK), Sai Kishore, Hrithik Shokeen, Rahul Chahar, Vaibhav Arora, Anshul Kamboj, Aquib Khan, Rasik Salam
