Pakistan A lifts second straight Emerging Asia Cup title

Muhammad Tayyab Tahir of Pakistan ‘A’ celebrates after scoring a century against India ‘A’ at Colombo yesterday. Pic/PTI

Tayyab Tahir's exceptional hundred garnished Pakistan A's march to a commanding 128-run win over India A, for a second consecutive Emerging Teams Asia Cup title, here on Sunday.

Once Pakistan posted a mammoth 352 for eight courtesy Tahir's 108 off 71 balls (12x4s, 4x6s), the result was in no real doubt.

India made a fist of it, but ended up at 224 all out in 40 overs to suffer their first defeat in this tournament.

India behind all the way

From the toss, everything went south for India, who asked Pakistan to bat first a decision which was a tad puzzling because the chasing team had lost eight matches in the tournament.

However, Pakistan A, who fielded as many as eight players with international experience, were in mood to give a return gift to India A, who fielded a purely U-23 side with no experience of top-flight cricket.

Pakistan went off the blocks like a supercharged car, scoring over six runs and the run-rate subsequently crossed the seven-runs per-over mark.

Openers Saim Ayub (59 off 51 balls) and Sahibzada Farhan (65 off 62 balls) added 121 runs in just 17.2 overs, fully utilising a fresh surface and hard ball.

Just as Pakistan seemed to have got a measure of Indian bowlers, they stormed into the match. Left-arm spinner Manav Suthar took his 11th wicket of the tournament when he jettisoned Ayub.

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In the next 11-over passage, they gave away 66 runs but plucked 4 wickets as Pakistan slumped to 187 for 5.

Parag picks two in two balls

Leg-spinner Riyan Parag too chipped in as he took two wickets in as many balls, dismissing Omair Yousuf and Qasim Akram.However, Tahir quelled India's hopes of bundling out Pakistan early with an innings of rare quality.

Around the 30th over, the ball began to slightly grip the surface but Tahir played through the line, exhibiting timing and power.

India's success in this tournament was built around their spin troika of Suthar, Nishant Sindhu and Abhishek Sharma, but Tahir invalidated their presence with a fine array of shots. The right-hander, who made his Pakistan senior team debut earlier this year, played cuts, drives, pulls and ramps at will to bring up a 66-ball 100.

Brief scores
Pakistan ‘A' 352-8 in 50 overs (T Tahir 108, S Farhan 65, S Ayub 59; R Parag 2-24, R Hangargekar 2-48) beat India ‘A' 224 all out in 40 overs (A Sharma 61; S Muqeem 3-62, M Mumtaz 2-24, A Iqbal 2-34) by 128 runs

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