Allah Noor, Bowlers lead National U19s to their first Victory in U19 Asia Cup

Middle-order batter Allah Noor Naseri (100* off 120b) scored a century while Bilal Sami (3/12) and Khalil Ahmad (3/23) shared 6 wickets between them to hand Afghan National U19s their first two points in the ongoing U19 Asia Cup 2021.

Earlier in the morning, the UAE U19s put Afghanistan into bat first. Afghanistan lost Suliman Arabzai in the 2nd over, followed by the skipper Suliman Safi in the 5th over to leave Afghanistan U19s at 10/2. Afghanistan was in more trouble when the most experienced Afghan batter Mohammad Ishaq found Sharafu off Jayshankar for 7 to leave Afghanistan tattering at 26/3.

Allah Noor Naseri and the left-handed Ijaz Ahmad Azad started to build on a partnership, they batted for almost 20 overs together and shared 85 runs between them, before Ijaz was removed by Nilansh in 29th over. Ijaz Ahmad was replaced by another Ijaz Ahmad, the vice-captain of the team, who was struck in front first ball and was sent back to the dugout.

Nangyal Kharoti also couldn’t resist as he fell to the same bowler in 33rd over. The leg-spinning allrounder Izharulhaq Naweed, stood still and backed the set batter, Allah Noor, to add more runs to their team total. Both of them batted for 16.3 overs and somehow managed to get Afghan U19s to a decent position at the end of the first inning.

Allah Noor finished on 100* off 120 deliveries, Naweed added 24, while Noor Ahmad struck 10 runs off 5 balls to take Afghanistan U19s to 194/9 in their 50 overs. For UAE U19s Nelansh picked 3/23 off 10 overs, Jayshankar 2/29 while Sharafu picked 2/32 off his four overs.

In reply, UAE U19s could not resist their fast and furious new ball bowling and were reduced to 17/7, 42/8, and then 54/10. The right-arm quick duo of Sami Bilal and Khalil Ahmad shared 6 wickets between them while Izharulhaq Naweed picked 2 and Noor Ahmad took 1 wicket. Allah Noor with his unbeaten hundred was awarded as the man of the match.

Afghanistan U19s will take on the India U19s in their 3rd game of the Asia Cup on December 27, at the ICC Academy Oval-2.