Tayyab Tahir
The much-awaited final of the Emerging Asia Cup between India A and Pakistan A has reached halfway stage and Pakistan have taken a pole position with a big score of 352 on the board. Pakistan openers led the foundation with a 121-run opening stand and though Indian bowlers manage to take wickets in the middle overs, they could not stem the run flow.
India A won the toss and decided to bowl first hoping to restrict India to a low total in a high-pressure game like final but it has backfired badly so far. Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan, the Pakistani openers batted beautifully and negated the new ball threat to set the stage for a big score. Manav Suthar provided the first breakthrough with a wicket of Saim Ayub and soon India managed to reduce Pakistan from 121-0 to 187-5.
Riyan Parag played a big role in that mini collapse and picked two wickets in two balls to raise Indian hopes coming into the backend of the innings. However, Tayyab Tahir had his intentions clear and counterattacked brilliantly to smash 108 off 71 balls. There were handy cameos from Mubasir Khan, Mehran Mumtaz and Mohammad Waseem which eventually resulted in Pakistan posting an above par total here in Colombo.
Nishant Sindhu was the only bowler who was economical and picked up a wicket of Pakistan skipper, Mohammad Haris as well. However, overall, Indian bowlers were way off target and had a disappointing outing.
Brief Scores
Pakistan A - 352/8
Tayyab Tahir - 108 (71), Sahibzada Farhan - 65 (62)
Riyan Parag - 2/24, RS Hangargekar - 2/48
.jpg?type=mq "Riyan Strikes Back to Back")
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