Pakistan Under-19 Cricket Team. – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Under-19 side has started their ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup campaign with a dream start of 109 run win against Afghanistan in John Blanck Oval, Buderim, Australia on Saturday.

Afghanistan won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat where they piled up a total of 253 runs losing six wickets in 50 overs.

Captain Babar Azam played magnificently scoring 75 runs including seven fours on 103 balls followed by Mohammad Nawaz who scored 66 runs on just fifty balls including seven boundaries and a six.

Umar Waheed and Usman Qadir remained unbeaten at 43 and 1 runs, respectively while Imam-ul-Haq (25) and Sami Aslam (21) also batted well.

For Afghanistan, Sayed Shiraz and Mohammad Yamin shared two wickets each giving 43 and 54 runs, respectively. Shabir Ahmed took one wickets for 49 runs.

In reply, Afghanistan team was all out for 144 runs in 45.1 overs.

Hashmatullah Shaidi was the pick of the batsmen for Afghanistan scoring 50 runs in 77 balls including three fours.

Mohibullah (30), Mohammad Javed (20) and Afsar Khann (16) were the batsmen who reached double figures.

For Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq grabbed four wickets conceding 30 runs while Zafar Gohar bagged two wickets for 25 runs.

Umar Waheed, Umar Waheed and Usman Qadir shared one wicket each giving 11, 28 and 19 runs respectively.

Babar Azam captain of Pakistan team was declared Player of the match for his superb innings.

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