Afghanistan A cricket team stunned the mighty Indian side with a dominant 20-run win in the ACC T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024 semi-final on Friday. Afghanistan posted a challenging total of 206 and then restricted the former champions to 186 to storm into their first-ever final.
India were tipped as clear favourites having dominated their three group-stage games while Afghanistan was entering the fixture after a shock defeat against Hong Kong. But the star-studded Indian side lacked the passion and spirit they needed in a knockout game and Afghanistan showed more desire to play in the final.
India recalled Rahul Chahar, Prabhsimran Singh and Anshul Kamboj to their playing eleven. Kamboj and Chahar both proved costly with the latter leaking a record-breaking 48 runs in his four overs.
Afghanistan were quick to take control of the game with in-form openers Zubaid Akbari and Sediqullah Atal adding 137 runs for the opening wicket. Atal top-scored with 83 runs off 52 balls and Akbari scored a quick 64 to put Afghanistan on a track for a big total. Karim Janat added the finishing touch by adding 41 runs off just 20 balls. For India, only Rasikh Salam made the difference with the ball as he picked three wickets and conceded only 25 runs.
India's star opener Abhishek Sharma pulled off a big six off Allah Gazanfar to declare his intentions in the second over but threw away his wicket on the very next delivery. India struggled to make their stand in the first ten overs with Prabhsimran Singh, Tilak Varma and Ayush Badoni being dismissed for low scores.
Ramandeep Singh and Nishant Sindhu raised India's late hope for a comeback with the former scoring 64 runs off just 34 balls but India were restricted to just 186 for 7. Gazanfar and Adul Rahman picked two wickets each for the Afghan side.
India A Playing XI: Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (c), Ayush Badoni, Nehal Wadhera, Ramandeep Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Anshul Kamboj, Rahul Chahar, Rasikh Dar Salam, Aaqib Khan.
Afghanistan A Playing XI: Sediqullah Atal, Zubaid Akbari, Darwish Rasooli (c), Mohammad Ishaq (wk), Karim Janat, Shahidullah Kamal, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Abdul Rahman, Allah Ghazanfar, Qais Ahmad, Bilal Sami.
