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Afghanistan's Under-19 cricket team beat Bangladesh by seven wickets in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday - a win that will take them into the semi-finals of the Under-19 Asia Cup, CricketNext reported.
The victory put Afghanistan second in Group B, setting up a semi-final clash against Pakistan on Thursday June 28.
After keeping Bangladesh to 240 for 9 in 50 overs, the Afghan team won after beating the revised target of 220 in 42 overs with 223 runs in 40.3 overs.
Afghanistan's openers Afsar Khan (46) and Javed Ahmadi (71) put 77 runs on the board before Ahmadi, also the team's captain, shared a 99-run stand with Shabir Noori (57). Noori's 42-ball innings ended in the 37th over, after which Najibullah Zadran hit 33 from 18 balls as the target was chased with nine balls remaining.
Earlier, Ahmad had bowled 3 for 25 from ten overs to restrict Bangladesh to an attainable target, and he was named Man of the Match.
Bangladesh's innings contained three contributions in the forties and another 30 from Mosaddek Hossain, but no batsman went on to get a big score, Cricketnext reported.
Afghanistan will face Pakistan in the semi-final after Pakistan soundly beat Malaysia in the Group A fixture.
Batting first, Pakistan made 302 runs for 4 on the back of solid contributions from Sami Aslam (47), skipper Babar Azam (68), Umar Waheed (76) and Mohammad Nawaz (53).
Malaysia could barely compete, with all out for 53 runs. Only one player reached double-figures.
Pakistan's Nawaz bowled 3 for 9 from nine overs to claim the Man of the Match.
Cricketnext -- brief scores:
Group A: Pakistan U-19 302/4 in 50 overs (Sami Aslam 47, Babar Azam 68, Imam-ul-Haq 50, Umar Waheed 76, Mohammad Nawaz 53*) beat Malaysia U-19 53 all out in 30.3 overs (Azizullah 2/6, Mir Hamza 2/14, Mohammad Nawaz 3/9) by 249 runs.
Group B: Afghanistan U-19 (revised target 220 in 42): 223/3 in 40.3 overs (Afsar Khan 46, Javed Ahmadi 71, Shabir Noori 57, Najibullah Zadran 33*; Mosaddek Hossain 2/30) beat Bangladesh U-19 240/9 in 50 overs (Soumya Sarkar 42, Salman Hossain 43, Mosaddek Hossain 30, Nurul Hasan 40; Aftab Alam 3/51, Javed Ahmadi 3/25, Shabir Noori 2/37) by seven wickets.