Afghans thrash Lankans, cruise into U19 WC quarterfinals

KABUL Cup in Whangerei, New Zealand, on Wednesday.

Afghanistan are placed in Group D with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ireland in the 16-nation event, including the 10 full ICC members - England, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh..

Afghanistan, electing to bat, set the islanders a target of 285 runs in the 50 overs game. They lost seven wickets. Ibrahim Zadran played a brilliant knock of 86 runs, followed by Darwish Rasuli with 63 and Ikram Ali 55.

However, soon after the Sri Lankan innings started, the match was disrupted by rain. They were given a 234 runs target in 38 overs in accordance with the Duckworth–Lewis (D/L) method.

In response, the Sir Lankans were restricted to 202, handing Afghanistan a 32-run victory. Naveenul Haq clinched four wickets for 35 runs. Qais Ahmad and Azmatullah Omarzai bagged two scalps each.

Zadaran was declared the Man of the Match.

In the opener, the Afghans had routed Pakistan. Wednesday’s triumph saw Afghanistan marching into the quarter-finals for the second time. They had done so in 2014 in the UAE.

Afghanistan will take on Ireland in their final Group D match.

pk/sa/mud