Bangladesh team won the opening match of U-19 Asia Cup. Yuvara defeated Afghanistan by 45 runs at the Dubai International Stadium today. Chasing the target of 229 runs, the Afghan boys reached 116 runs for 2 wickets. Despite raising hopes of victory, they lost to Iqbal Hossain Imon-Maruf Mridhad's bowling. 183 runs in 47.5 overs.
After winning the toss, Afghanistan captain Mahbub Khan invited Bangladesh youth to bat first. Captain Azizul Hakeem Tamim's century saw the current champions of the Youth Asia Cup score 228 for 9 wickets. Batting in the first over of the innings, Tamim got out in the 47th over. Maher played the important innings of 103 runs during this time.
After losing the toss and going into bat, the opening pair of Bangladesh was broken by 3 runs. Afghan bowler Abdul Aziz sent back Jawad Abrar on the fifth ball of the innings. Abrar could not open the account of runs. After that, Tamim came down to bat. Opener Kalam Siddiqui made a partnership of 142 runs for the second wicket. Mohammad Ghazanfar broke the pair with Kalam's wicket in the third ball of the 36th over. Kalam scored 66 runs off 110 balls with 5 fours and 1 six.
Bangladesh's innings began to crumble after the second wicket pair was broken. Tamim kept playing at one end between the arrivals and departures of his teammates. The Bangladesh captain scored a century off 132 balls. Tamim reached three figures by hitting Nuristani Omarzai for a six in the fourth ball of the 47th over. He made his way to the dressing room after the century. Scored 103 runs in 133 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes.
Bangladesh lost 3 wickets to score 24 runs in the last 20 balls. Afghanistan's Aziz, Nuristani, Khatir Stanikzai took 2 wickets each. Ghazanfar and Nasir Khan Marufkhil got 1 wicket each.
Chasing a target of 229 runs, Afghanistan started cautiously. But lost the first wicket in the 9th over. Mridha broke the opening partnership of 21 runs with Mahbub by returning Uzairullah Niazi for 8 runs. In the second wicket, Mahbub tried to handle the initial shock with Faisal Khan. But in the 17th over, Rafiuzzaman Rafi gave Bangladesh a break-through by returning Mahbub to the whirlwind magic. The pair of 45 runs broke.
Faisal raised the hope of Afghanistan's victory with Marufkhil in the third wicket. Both made a great partnership of 50 runs. In the 30th over, the pair broke when Al Fahad's ball returned. Faisal scored 58 runs off 58 balls. Then Marufkhil (34) fell victim to Iman for 34 runs. After that the rest of the batters could not take advantage. Fahad and Eamon of Bangladesh took 3 wickets each and Mridha took 2 wickets.
Sri Lanka beat Nepal by 55 runs in another match of the day in Bangladesh's 'B' group. Batting first, the Lankans scored 233 runs in 50 overs after losing all the wickets. In response, Nepal were all out for 178 runs in 46.2 overs.
