Afghanistan A have created history as they became the champion of the Emerging Teams Asia Cup for the first time. Darwish Rasooli's Afgan side defeated Sri Lanka in the final to win the final in Al Amerat.
Afghanistan A chased down the 134-run target comprehensively with Sediqullah Atal anchoring the run-chase with his sixth consecutive half-century in T20s. They cruised well in the entire run-chase and crossed the line with seven wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare. Sediqullah, who has been added to the T20I squad for the Bangladesh series, went back unbeaten for run-a-ball 55.
Sri Lanka did not had many runs to play with. The two-time champions were restricted to 133/7 as Afghanistan A bowlers - Bilal Sami and Allah Ghazanfar shared five wickets at mingy rates. Sri Lanka International Sahan Arachchige was stellar for his 64 from 47 balls but apart from him, no other batters contributed much.
Afghanistan A were dominant in the entire tournament. They came into the final after beating contenders India in their last-four clash a couple of days earlier. They lost only one match in the entire tournament and that came in the group stage against Hong Kong.
Afghanistan are the fourth team to have won the tournament since its inception in 2013. India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were the first three teams to clinch the regional tournament.
Teams to win ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup:
1 - India U23: Won in 2013 by defeating Pakistan U23
2 - Sri Lanka U23: Won in 2017 by defeating Pakistan U23
3 - Sri Lanka U23: Won in 2018 by defeating India U23
4 - Pakistan U23: Won in 2019 by defeating Bangladesh U23
5 - Pakistan A: Won in 2023 by defeating India A
6 - Afghanistan A: Won in 2024 by defeating Sri Lanka A
Sri Lanka A's Playing XI:
Lahiru Udara (wk), Yashodha Lanka, Ahan Wickramasinghe, Nuwanidu Fernando (c), Sahan Arachchige, Pawan Rathnayake, Ramesh Mendis, Dushan Hemantha, Nimesh Vimukthi, Nipun Ransika, Eshan Malinga
Afghanistan A's Playing XI:
Zubaid Akbari, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli (c), Mohammad Ishaq (wk), Sharafuddin Ashraf, Shahidullah Kamal, Karim Janat, Allah Ghazanfar, Qais Ahmad, Abdul Rahman, Bilal Sami
