Pakistan bounced back from an early loss to emerge triumphant over the United Arab Emirates (UAE), by 69 runs, to reach the semi-finals of the Men’s Under-19 (U19) Asia Cup.
Pakistan won the toss and batted first: 314 runs for 3 wickets in 50 overs. Shahzaib Khan played like a champ, bagging another century and building an invaluable partnership of 183 runs for the second wicket with Muhammad Riazullah.
Riazullah was also destructive, belting 106 runs off just 91 deliveries, on the back of the fantastic platform established by the openers.
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It was such a great target to chase 315 that UAE lost wickets one after the other and never managed to string any decent partnership against a very disciplined Pakistani bowling attack.
For UAE, Ethan D’Souza did the almost impossible: a brave score of 84 out of 102 balls with 11 boundaries. He held up the team, and got support from Muhammad Rayan, who helped with 50 runs very adeptly, made from 66 deliveries, as they added 113 runs for the fourth wicket to give some hope to UAE in the middle overs.
The chase began to go awry after the fall of D’Souza, caught behind off Abdul Subhan in the 41st over. Subhan was the standout for Pakistan with the ball, carrying home a remarkable six-wicket haul for 57 in 10 overs.
However, the Pakistan bowlers complemented the batters’ performance with a disciplined showing. Other than Abdul Subhan’s six-wicket haul, Mohammad Ahmed also impressed with 2 wickets for 45 runs in 10 overs. Ali Raza and Naveed Ahmed Khan bowled economically, while Faham-ul-Haq and Haroon Arshad put pressure on the UAE batters.
Subhan’s knack for snapping up timely breakthroughs meant that the UAE could never really get going in chasing the target. This win has now guaranteed Pakistan a place in the semi-finals of the Men’s U19 Asia Cup.