Afghanistan Qualified for Asian Games 2023 Finals: Gulbadin Naib led Afghanistan have qualified for the Asian Games 2023 Men’s T20I Final by beating Pakistan by 4 wickets in the semifinal 2.
Afghanistan Qualified for Asian Games 2023 Finals
Earlier today, India defeated Bangladesh and became the first team to be qualified for the final game.
The second semifinal game of the tournament was scheduled to be played between Pakistan and Afghanistan today. The winner of semifinal 2 will advance to the final game while the loser will face Bangladesh for the 3rd place(Bronze medal).
Speaking of the match, Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bowl first where Omair Yousuf and Mirza Baig opened the inning. Afghanistan dismissed Mirza Baig for 4 runs via runout and drew the first blood for Pakistan while they scored 21 runs.
Following his wicket, Pakistan struggled to build a partnership and lost their wickets at regular intervals. At the end of 18 overs, Pakistan scored 115 runs and lost all their 10 wickets.
On the other hand, Afghanistan too struggled to face the Pakistan bowlers and lost their first wicket for 9 runs. With Noor Ali Zadran’s 39 and Gulbadin Naib’s unbeaten 26 runs, Afghanistan chased the target in 17.5 overs and won the game by 4 wickets and with 13 balls to spare.
Afghanistan will now face India in the Asian Games 2023 Men’s T20I Final on October 7 at Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field, Hangzhou. The match will begin at 11:30 AM IST / 06:00 AM GMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL.
The 19th Asian Games is scheduled to be held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Hangzhou will be the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games, after Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010.
Fifteen men’s teams and nine women’s teams will take part in the event. The teams were seeded based on ICC T20I Ranking as of 1st June 2023
Afghanistan Squad for Asian Games 2023
Gulbadin Naib (c), Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Zubdaid Akbari, Noor Ali Zadran, Shahidullah Kamal, Afsar Zazai, Wafiullah Tarakhil, Karim Jannat, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Nijat Masoud, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan.
