Pakistan U19 defeats Afghanistan by 13 runs in 4th ODI

DUBAI: Pakistan Under-19 cricket team defeated Afghanistan Under-19 by 13 runs in the fourth One Day International (ODI) match of the tri-nation UAE Under-19 One Day Series 2024 at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Wednesday.

Ali Raza of Pakistan Under-19 was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant performance, taking 4 wickets for 57 runs in 10 overs.

Batting first, Pakistan Under-19 set Afghanistan a target of 244 runs in 49.4 overs. Shahzeb Khan scored 78 runs off 101 balls and was dismissed by Abdul Aziz.

The second-best score for Pakistan Under-19 came from Usman Khan, who scored 77 runs off 88 balls before being dismissed by Afghanistan Under-19’s Faisal Shinozada.

The rest of the Pakistani batsmen were bundled out for less than 30 runs.

For Afghanistan U-19, Abdul Aziz and Khater Stanikzai took 3 wickets each. Aziz gave away 24 runs in 5.4 overs while Stanikzai gave away 48 runs in 9 overs.

In addition, Naseer Khan Maroofkhel took 2 wickets for 29 runs in 10 overs while Nuristani Umarzai took 1 wicket for 38 runs in 5 overs.

Chasing the target, the Afghanistan U-19 team managed to score 231 runs for 13 runs. All their batsmen were dismissed by the Pakistan U-19 bowlers in 46.4 overs.

Although Afghanistan U-19’s Uzairullah Niazai played a brilliant innings, scoring 70 runs off 72 balls, his efforts were not enough to save his team from defeat. Faisal Shinozada and Naseer Khan Maroofkhel were dismissed for just fifty runs while the rest of the players failed to score more than 20 runs and lost their wickets.

Pakistan achieved this victory due to the outstanding batting performances of Shahzeb Khan and Usman Khan, who scored 78 and 77 runs respectively, as well as the excellent bowling of Ali Raza, who took 4 wickets and was declared the Man of the Match.