Sri Lanka ‘A’ suffered an 11-run defeat at the hands of Afghanistan ‘A’ in their opening game of ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024 played today (18th October) at Al Amerat Cricket Grounds in Oman.
Having won the toss, Sri Lanka invited Afghans to take the first lease of the wicket. Afghanistan got off to a brilliant start as their opening pair Sediqullah Atal and Zubaid Akbari put on 142 runs for the first wicket in 95 balls.
However, Sri Lanka managed to drag things back as the wrist-spinner Dushan Hemantha produced a brilliant spell at the latter stage of the innings. Hemantha claimed 6 wickets for 23 runs in his 4-over spell – his best bowling figures in T20s.
In reply, Sri Lanka ‘A’ fell short of the target by 11 runs despite the skipper Nuwanidu Fernando’s fighting half-century. Fernando made 51 runs off 32 balls with 6 fours and a six while the middle-order batter Ahan Wickramasinghe also contributed with 31 runs off 18 balls with 3 fours.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ will face Hong Kong in their next game of the tournament on the 20thth October at the same venue.
Brief Scores
Afghanistan ‘A’ – 166/7 (20) Sediqullah Atal 83, Zubaid Akbari 57, Dushan Hemantha 6/23
Sri Lanka ‘A’ – 155 (19.3) Nuwanidu Fernando 51, Ahan Wickramasinghe 31, Faridoon Dawoodzai 3/40, Bilal Sami 2/19, Mohammed Ghazanfar 2/19
Result – Afghanistan ‘A’ won by 11 runs
