That's it from our end. Pakistan U19 have dismantled Malaysia U19 in their opening game and will now look forward to their next league game against India U19. Malaysia U19, meanwhile, will play UAE U19 in their subsequent fixture. Do join us for those games, and stay put for coverage from across the globe!
Till then, this is Arjun Bhalla signing off on behalf of Mohammad Anab and Danish Elahi.
Farhan Yousaf (Pakistan U19 Captain): "We had a shaky start, but Minhas and Hussain did well under pressure. Both of them are quality batters. The batting unit got confidence after such a performance, and we know what our bowlers can do. Looking forward to the India game."
Deeaz Patro (Malaysia U19 Captain): "Yeah, we bowled well in the powerplay but then Pakistan took the game away from us. Even after the powerplay, we were in the game for a while but then Pakistan's top-order batters started building a partnership and scoring boundaries consistently. It has been a good experience for us to play Pakistan pacers. A good exposure for us to play these kinds of bowlers, which we generally don't get back home. Good opportunity for us."
Sameer Minhas (POTM): "Feeling great to perform on my debut for Pakistan U19. The plan for simple as we lost two early wickets. The ball was seaming a little. We planned to play out till the 25th over, before taking on the bowler. It was a fantastic victory after all."
Player of the Match: Sameer Minhas
Time for post-match presentation!
4:12 PM IST, 2:42 PM Local Time: Pakistan U19 have dismantled Malaysia U19 by a heavy margin of 297 runs to open their account in this edition of the U19 Asia Cup. First, Sameer Minhas (177*) and Ahmed Hussain (132) set the game, before the pair of Ali Raza and Mohammad Sayyam had the opposition with the ball.
Malaysia began well after opting to bowl.Nagineswaran Sathnakumaran and Muhammad Akram Malek hit testing areas early, removing Usman Khan Jnr and Ali Hassan Baloch within the first ten overs. But once spin came on, Pakistan U19 seized control.
Sameer Minhas and Ahmed Hussain combined to script a record-breaking 293-run stand for the third wicket — Pakistan’s highest-ever partnership in this tournament. Minhas initially played the supporting role, while Hussain attacked from the outset. The monumental stand ended when Hussain fell for an aggressive 132, but Minhas stayed unbeaten, finishing with a magnificent 177*. Pakistan ended with a score of 345/3.
For Malaysia U19, only Nagineswaran Sathnakumaran stood out. The seamer claimed two wickets but he went for 91 runs in his ten overs.
In reply, Malaysia never looked comfortable against Pakistan's new ball duo of Ali Raza and Mohammad Sayyam. Malaysia lost their opener Che Zaman (0) on the second delivery of the second innings. In the next over, they lost their first down batter Mohammad Hariz Afnan (4). Later, skipper Deeaz Patro (9) left a straight delivery and got clean bowled. Inside the first 11 overs, Malaysia were struggling at 34/6.
After that, a few of the Malaysian lower-order batters tried to hang around in the middle but they only consumed balls and were unable to score any runs. Eventually, the side got all out for 48 inside 20 overs. Notably, no Malaysian batter scored in the double-digits. Two of their batters got out for a duck while five of them got dismissed after scoring less than five runs.
Pakistan seam-trio of Raza (3/11), Sayyam (3/27) and Daniyal Ali Khan (2/6) took nine wickets between them. The Malaysian batters struggled badly against the pace and bounce generated by these bowlers.
In the end, Pakistan U19 won the game by 297 runs. One of their biggest wins in U19 cricket.