The Emerging Asia Cup finale stage is starting to set as Pakistan has snatched the finalist spot. They achieved this feat against the hosts Sri Lanka by winning the match by 60 runs. Sri Lanka A showed promise, but the Pakistan A team had no chance of giving up.
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Fans were anticipating an exciting match as Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Test match had already set the stage for this match. Pakistan had beaten Sri Lanka at Galle by 4 wickets at hand. This excited Sri Lanka A to fight back and boosted the boys’ morale in green. Arshad Iqbal snatched the victory away from the Lankans with his outstanding 5-fer. More about this victory in this article.
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The other finalist was decided on 21 July 2023, as India A beat Bangladesh A by 51 runs. More about this in the article as well. So continue reading.
Pakistan A’s satisfying victory
The green shirts gave the hosts a humungous target of 322 in the first innings as they won the toss and chose to bat first.
Farhan and Saim couldn’t give a good start, as they both went out after scoring 12 and 22 runs, respectively. But Omair Yousuf, the one-down batsman, came to the rescue.
Omair scored 88 runs on 79 deliveries, being part of two major partnerships with Tayyab Tahir and the skipper, Mohammad Haris. Haris scored his 50, while Mubasir scored 42 runs later to propel Pakistan A to 322 runs.
The Lankan bowlers couldn’t control the runs, while only Dunith Wellalage was economical.
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In the second innings, Pakistani bowlers struck early, but the 128 runs stand between SSD Arachchige, and WIA Fernando proved a menace.
Fernando and Bandara’s wickets fell in succession, but DN Wellalage stood with Arachchige for another 57-run stand.
It was all possible due to Arshad’s brilliant bowling. He took 5 for 37 in mere 8 overs. This earned him the Man of the Match award, propelling Pakistan A to the final.
[su_table]
| Pakistan A 322-10 | |
| BATTING | BOWLING |
| Omair Yousuf 88(79) | Dunith Wellalage 1-41 |
| Mohammad Haris 52(43) | Pramod Madushan 2-56 |
| Mubasir Khan 42(45) | Lahiru Samarakoon2-42 |
| Target = 323 | |
| Sri Lanka A 262-10 | |
| BATTING | BOWLING |
| Avishka Fernando 97(85) | Arshad Iqbal 5-37 |
| Sahan Arachchige 97(109) | Sufiyan Muqeem 2-44 |
| Result = Pakistan A won by 60 runs | |
| Man of the match = Arshad Iqbal | |
[/su_table]
Looking towards the Final with India A
India A had also beaten Bangladesh A by 51 runs. This made them the second finalists. What could be better than an India vs Pakistan final?
India A beat star-studded Pakistan A in the group stages by 8 wickets. This disappointed Pakistan A, as they had the cumulative experience of more than 80 international matches. At the same time, the young India A had none of it.
This will be a good chance for Pakistan A to take revenge and claim the throne of the Emerging Asia Cup.
We can see this epic clash between Pakistan and India on 23 July 2023 in Colombo. Cricket couldn’t get any better than this.