Afghanistan’s National Under-19 team beats Sri Lanka by four runs to secure a place in the semifinals of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2022.

Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said in a statement that Afghanistan will play its next match against England at the North Sound of West Indies on February 1, 2022.

According to the statement, Afghanistan was put in to bat in overcast conditions. The openers scored 24 runs for no loss in 7 overs before the game was interrupted by rain, soon later the game was resumed again, from where the Sri Lankan bowlers started dominating the game by picking 4 wickets inside 3.5 overs to reduce Afghanistan from 24/0 in 10.5 to 26/4 in 13.4 overs.

“The left-arm middle-order batter Abdul Hadi alongside Allah Noor who bats right-handed at the top and middle order, fought hard to bat deep and bring as many runs as possible. The duo put on a 49-run partnership before Allah Noor fell to the opponent captain.”

“Noor Ahmad at the back end of the inning played an effective cameo (30 off 33) to lift Afghanistan’s total to 134. Both Noor Ahmad and Abdul Hadi were cut short, due to their wild slogging approach, otherwise, a little smoother and smarter thinking from both could have added 20-25 more runs to the total.”

Bilal Sami and Naweed Zadran, meanwhile, started brilliantly with the new ball as they conceded only 20 runs in the first 10 overs, picking up two wickets.

Naweed Zadran and Noor Ahmad added one more wicket each to their team’s tally, which were backed by some excellent and sharp fielding that handed the team more three run-outs to reduce the opponents to 43/7 in 17.1 overs.

“Sri Lankan Captain Dunith Wallegale alongside Raveen De Silva fought well to add 69 more runs together to their total. Just before they were to start finishing the game off, Nangyalai Kharoti removed the opponent skipper and Izharulhaq Naweed castle de Silva with a beautiful googly to leave them tottering at 116/9. The last pair added 14 more runs together to get their team close to the line before they mixed up while running a single and Mathew was short by yards while returning back to end a mouth-watering encounter in favor of Afghanistan by 4 runs,” the statement read.

For Afghanistan; Bilal Sami picked two, while Nangyal Kharoti, Noor Ahmad, Izharulhaq Naweed, and Naweed Zadran all took one wicket each. The rest four batters were run out following some electric fielding and direct hits from the fielders. The left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad was awarded as the Man of the Match for his important 30 runs and 1/20 off his 10 overs.