India suffered a shock 28-run defeat against Afghanistan but still qualified for the semi-finals of the ACC Emerging Teams Cup tournament for the Under-23 cricket teams, on Thursday.
Chasing a modest 185 to win, the Indian team, packed with a lot of talented youngsters, managed just 156/9 as losing wickets at regular intervals cost them dear in their last group A match.
Opener Lokesh Rahul (51) and Ankit Bawne (39) were the only batsmen who resisted the rival bowlers confidently.
Unmukt Chand (10), Ashok Menaria (5) and Baba Aparajith (2) fell cheaply as the middle order crumbled in the face of some disciplined bowling by Afghanistan.
Having won the first two matches, India topped Group A and will take on the UAE in the semi-final on Friday. The UAE too recorded a win over Bangladesh on Thursday.
Despite their upset win over India, Afghanistan were eliminated as India and Pakistan advanced to the knockout stage on the virtue of their better Net Run Rate.
India (+0.440), Pakistan (+0.425) and Afghanistan (+0.177) all finished with four points each.
Pakistan will take on Sri Lanka, winner of Group B.
In Thursday's Group A match, India invited Afghanistan to bat and the bowlers did a good job by restricting them to 184 for seven. Left-arm spinner Akshar Patel (2/33) and Baba Aparajith (2/16) claimed two wickets apiece while Sandeep Sharma and Menaria took one wicket each.
Samiullah Shenwari top scored for Afghanistan with his well made 43 off 44 balls. He struck five fours and a six in his crucial knock. Before Shenwari's knock lifted his side to a decent total, opener Mohammed Shahzad scored a patient 38 off 87 balls.
India made a slow start with Chand and Rahul scoring at a run rate of three per over. The pressure got to Chand as he soon became a victim of Hamza Hotak.
Aparajith was run out and Menaria too did not last long but Rahul kept batting well from one end. However when Rahul departed soon after completing his half-century, India lost way and never recovered. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (15), Smit Patel (2) and Akshar Patel (5) all failed to put up a fight.
Scores: Afghanistan U-23 184/7 in 50 overs. (Samiullah Shenwari 43 not out, Mohammad Shahzad 38; B Aparajith 2/16, A Patel 2/33) bt India U-23 156/9 in 50 overs. (L Rahil 51, A Bawne 39; Mohammed Nabi 3/32, R Shah 2/40).