Afghanistan stun India in ACC Emerging Teams Cup 2017

The India U23 side was stunned by the Afghanistan U23 team in a closely contested humdinger at Chittagong on Thursday. The Afghan side managed to eke out a narrow 2 wicket win with 21 balls to spare in a crucial Pool A encounter to move ahead of their Indian counterparts in the points table. Albeit both the sides now stand with 4 points each in the points table, it is the net run rate that makes the Afghan colts see their noses ahead.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that the India U23 side has been shocked by the Afghanistan U23 side in the tournament history of the ACC Emerging Teams Cup. Back in 2013, the Afghanistani side had beaten the Indian team by 28 runs. Came 2017 and history repeated yet again.

Going in to the game, Indian skipper Baba Aparajith won the toss and opted to bat first. Prithvi Shaw and Abhimanyu Easwaran gave a decent start to the Indian side with both batsmen adding 63 runs for the opening stand in 79 deliveries. The partnership was broken when Gulbadin Naib dismissed Easwaran on 31 to bring Shubham Gill at the crease in the 13th over. It was in the very same over that Naib got the wicket of the other opener, Shaw, too on the very identical score of 31.

Baba Aparajith and Gill then put on another decent 69 run stand for the third wicket. Aparajith perished after scoring a well compiled 38 off 55 deliveries. Hanuma Vihari, the experienced campaigner, was the new man in. A hard fought 46 (68) from Gill and a magnificent timely unbeaten 59 off 60 deliveries from Hanuma Vihari saw the Indian scorecard ticking along.

Vihari could not find much support after Gill was sent back to the pavilion. The wickets kept tumbling at one end as Vihari held the fort from the other. Naveen Ul Haq ran through the Indian tail to finish with figures of 4/54. India U23 could manage only 242/8 in their 50 overs.

The run chase for Afghanistan U23 began in a horrific fashion with opener Ihsanullah being dismissed by KK Seth in the 6th over on 4. Shahidullah, the other opener, was then joined by Younas Ahmadzai. The duo added 44 runs for the second wicket before Shahidullah’s blitz of 42 off 48 balls came to an end with Aamir Gani cleaning up his defenses.

Samiullah Shenwari and Younas Ahmadzai hit fifties in the middle order to keep the Afghans in commanding position. Despite their departure, the middle and lower order chipped in with vital contributions that saw Afghanistan eventually trounce India by 2 wickets with 21 balls to spare. Sharafuddin Ashraf’s quick unbeaten 26 off 16 balls took the game away from the Indians towards the end.

Brief Scores:

India U23 242/8 in 50 overs (Vihari 59, Gill 46, Naveen 4/54, Gulbadin 2/20)

Afghanistan U23 246/8 in 46.3 overs (Ahmadzai 51, Shenwari 50, Nagarkoti 2/29, Gani 2/42)