Afghanistan under 19s created the major upset of the opening day of Under-19s Asia Cup 2013/14 when they handed the Sri Lanka under 19s team a shock defeat of 3 wickets in their group B encounter played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium Nursery 2, Abu Dhabi
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat and the openers Hashan Dumindu and Sadeera Samarawickrama got off to a flying start of 64 runs before a major collapse in the Sri Lanka under 19 batting order was triggered by left arm spinner Zia- ur-Rehman. Hashan Dumindu was the pick of the batsmen as he scored a brilliant 61 runs in 105 balls while middle order batsmen Priyamal Perera batted with guts and intent in scoring 47 crucial runs in 69 balls to guide the Sri Lankan score to a below par 191 runs in 50 overs.
Chasing a target of 192 runs Afghanistan were cruising with their opening batsmen Shahidullah making a steady 47 runs and one drop batsmen Younus Ahmedzai making 36 important runs before the Sri Lankan spinners tightened the screws but Afghanistan captain Nasir Ahmedzai kept his nerve in scoring 28 late runs to guide Afghanistan U19s to a famous surprise defeat when they went over the line in the 48th over. Priyamal Perera was terrific with the ball as he took 2 Afghan wickets.
Chief Scores :
Sri Lanka U19 – 191/9 in 50 overs : Hashan Dumindu 61, Sadeera Samarawickrama 31, Priyamal Perera 47*, Zia-ur-Rehman 5/33, Sharafuddin Ashraf 2/30.
Afghanistan U19 – 192/7 in 47.3 overs : Shahidullah 47, Younas Ahmedzai 36, Muslim Muza 29, Nazir Ahmedzai 28*, Priyamal Perera 2/37.
Match Result : Afghanistan Under 19 won by 3 wickets.
