Daily Times

LAHORE: An all-round performance helped Pakistan A thrash India A by 128 runs in the Emerging Asia Cup final in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sunday. 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 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.

Brief scores:

Pakistan A 352 for 8 (Tayyab 108, Farhan 65, Parag 2-24, Hangargekar 2-48) beat India A 224 (Abhishek 61, Dhull 39, Muqeem 3-66, Wasim 2-26) by 128 runs.