Afghanistan A beat Oman A (Afg A vs Oman A) by 72 runs in the second match of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023 in Sri Lanka. Batting first, Afghanistan scored 267/8 in 49 overs and set a challenging target for Oman, in response to which Oman was bundled out for 195 runs. Afghanistan has gained two points in Group A with this win.
After winning the toss, Afghanistan captain Shahidullah Kamal decided to bat first. The team’s opener Zubaid Akbari along with Riyaz Hasan added 90 runs for the first wicket. Riyaz Hasan played an inning of 27 runs. After that, Noor Ali Zadran contributed 35 runs and captain Shahidullah Kamal contributed 45 runs. Zubaid Akbari played the biggest innings of 79 runs which included 14 fours. In the end, wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil scored an unbeaten 34 and Sharafuddin Ashraf scored 24 runs for the team to post a big score. For Oman, Kalimullah and Aaqib Ilyas got 2-2 wickets.
Chasing the target of 268 runs, the Oman team got two setbacks in the beginning. Team openers Kashyap Prajapati and Jatinder Singh returned to the pavilion for 5 and 2 runs respectively. Captain Aqib, who came to bat at number 3, played an important inning of 39 runs and took the team’s score forward. He was supported by Ayan Khan who scored 47 runs. Shoaib Khan also scored 47 runs in the middle order but none of the other batsmen failed to play big innings and the entire team was bundled out for 195 runs. Afghanistan won this match by 72 runs. Mohammad Ibrahim and Zia ur Rehman got 3-3 wickets for the Afghan team.