LAHORE: Afghanistan beat Nepal 19-11 in an entertaining match in the first Saarc baseball cup at Punjab Stadium on Saturday.

Both teams started their innings in an aggressive way with Afghanistan making two runs and Nepal taking the lead with four runs.

Mohammed Tahir and Mohammed Alam of Afghanistan made one run each, while Nepal scored through Rajesh, Gowinda, Sandeep and Aneel. Afghanistan bounced back in the second innings, making five runs.

Afghan continued with their onslaught in the third innings as well and put on 10 runs.

Nepal performed better in the fourth innings as they scored six runs through Raniel,Baimen, Kishore and Sandeep who got one score apiece.

Both teams failed to  score in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Nepal made one run through Aneel in the eighth innings while Afghan batters failed to score. In the decisive ninth innings Afghanistan’s Sher Jan scored one run which decided the match in their favour as Nepal failed to add to their total.

Iftikhar Ali Malik, vice-president Saarc Chambers of Commerce and Industries was the chief guest. Khawar Shah, secretary, Pakistan Baseball Federation presented a souvenir to the chief guest on the occasion.