Sri Lanka make winning start

SRI Lanka avoided Pakistan’s fate by beating upstarts Afghanistan by 61 runs for their second win in Group B of the ACC Under-19 Youth Asia Cup yesterday.

Afghanistan stunned Pakistan by seven wickets on Friday after bowling out their opponents for 57 runs but Sri Lanka avoided a similar carnage by reaching 196 for eight after the match was reduced to 42 overs an innings due to rain at the Bayuemas Oval in Klang.

Hasitha Boyagoda scored 53 off 84 balls to lead 2016 runnersup Sri Lanka and build a partnership of 59 with fellow opener Dananjaya Lakshan (24).

Aghanistan lost wickets at regular intervals despite the best efforts of No 5 batsman Darwish Abdul Rasool, whose 50 contained two fours and four sixes.

Praveen Jayawickrama did most of the damage to dismiss Afghanistan for 135, claiming the key wicket of Darwish among his five victims, and conceding just 17 runs.

In a Group A match at the Kinrara Oval, Bangladesh reached a revised target of 181 runs with just one ball to spare to beat Nepal by two wickets.

Md Naim Sheikh’s 52 runs kept Bangladesh in the chase as Afif Hossain Dhrubo added 33 before a boundary and a single by Robiul Haque saw Bangladesh to victory in their opening fixture.

Earlier, Bhim Sharki scored a brisk 44 runs off 40 balls to help Nepal reach 167 for six in 40.1 overs before rain stopped play.

Today, defending champions India return to action after beating Malaysia on Friday when they face Nepal at Bayuemas while Pakistan look to atone for their opening defeat when they take on the United Arab Emirates at the Royal Selangor Club in Bukit Kiara. Devinder Singh