DUBAI: Spinner Mohammad Huzaifa claimed five wickets to help Pakistan cruise to a 180-run victory over Japan in their final group match of the ACC Men’s U-19 Asia Cup here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Left-arm wrist spinner Huzaifa took five of the last six wickets to fall, finishing with exceptional figures of 6.3-3-8-5 as Japan were bundled out for 63 in reply to Pakistan’s 243-6.
After securing a third straight win to remain unbeaten in the group stage, Pakistan now take on Bangladesh in the semi on Friday at the same venue.
After electing to bat first, Pakistan amassed 34 runs in the first powerplay for the loss of two wickets before they were reduced to 100-5 at the halfway mark.
Shahzaib Khan, who scored hundreds in the opening two encounters of the event, partnered with Mohammad Riazullah to rescue the team with an 82-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
Shahzaib (45) was dismissed by Timothy Moore in the 44thover before Riazullah (66 not out) and Ahmed Hussain (30 not out) accelerated towards the end to register an unbroken 61-run partnership off 37 deliveries.
Nihar Parmar took two wickets for Japan while four other bowlers got a wicket each.
In the chase, Japan failed to find a stable partnership and collapsed badly in 28.3 overs. The 19 runs added for the first wicket between Hugo Kelly and Parmar turned out to be the highest stand of the innings.
Parmar (25) was the only player to enter double figures. Huzaifa was the chief architect of Japan’s batting collapse, rattling the stumps of four batters and trapping one lbw.
Besides Huzaifa’s five-fer, pacer Mohammad Ahmed and spinner Ahmed Hussain bagged two wickets each.
Scores in brief:
Pakistan U-19 beat Japan U-19 by 180 runs.
PAKISTAN U-19 243-6 in 50 overs (Mohammad Riazullah 66 not out, Shahzaib Khan 45, Faham-ul-Haq 34, Ahmed Hussain 30 not out; Nihar Parmar 2-18); JAPAN U-19 63 in 28.3 overs (Nihar Parmar 25; Mohammad Huzaifa 5-8, Mohammad Ahmed 2-9, Ahmed Hussain 2-17).
Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2024
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