Sri Lanka ‘A’ booked their ticket to the finals by beating the Pakistan Shaheens quite comprehensively by 7 wickets and 21 balls to spare in the 1st semi-final of the ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024 in Oman.
Pakistani skipper Mohamed Haris after winning the toss elected to bat first raising some eyebrows among fans. The winning template throughout the tournament was to bowl first after winning the toss by the captains. Sri Lankan bowlers who are having a tournament to remember resumed their normal services, by bowling in tight lines and showing great control with the ball.
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Dhushan Hemantha stood out yet again for Sri Lanka by Picking up 4 wickets. Pace bowlers Nipun Ransika and Eshan Malinga also impressed everyone with 2 wickets apiece. Falling of wickets in regular intervals and the lack of errors made by the Lankans made life hard for Pakistani batters, as a result, the Shaheens ended up with only 135 runs on the board after their 20 overs.
Inform Sri Lankan opening pair came out flashing hard at the Pakistanis, but due to a controversial decision made by the TV umpire Yashoda Lanka had to depart for only 10 runs after the umpire ruled him out for obstructing the field.
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With the departure of Yashoda Lanka Ahan Wickramasinghe joined His partner Lahiru Udara in the middle. Both of them were having a day out in the middle. Udara smashed 43 runs off just 20 deliveries, while Wickramasinghe took the Pakistani bowling to the cleanest scoring an unbeaten 52 to take Sri Lanka home and get Sri Lanka through to the final.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan Shaheens 135/9 (20) Omair Yousuf 68, Dushan Hemantha 4/21, Nipun Ransika 2/21, Eshan Malinga 2/28
Sri Lanka ‘A’ 137/3 (16.3) Ahan Wickramasinghe 52*, Lahiru Udara 43
Result – Sri Lanka ‘A’ Won By 7 Wickets
