The India A men’s cricket team finished as the runners-up at the 2023 ACC Emerging Teams Cup in Colombo on Sunday, after defending champions Pakistan A beat them by 128 runs to retain the title.

Led by the U19 World Cup-winning captain Yash Dhull, India A elected to field after winning the toss. The bowlers had to work hard as Pakistan A openers Saim Ayub (59) and Sahibzada Farhan (65) put up a 121-run partnership up front.

While Ayub, the more dominant of the two, was the first to fall caught behind off Manav Suthar, Farhan had four sixes against his name before he was run out by Dhull following a slip in the middle looking for a quick single.

The wickets of the openers saw the Indian bowlers tighten the screws a bit, as Pakistan went from 146/2 to 187/5 with Riyan Parag picking two wickets in consecutive deliveries in the 28th over.

Just when India A seemed to be gaining control of the match, Tayyab Tahir derailed their plans, with the 29-year-old going on a power hitting spree, bringing up his century in just 66 deliveries with 11 boundaries and four sixes. He was ably supported by Mubasir Khan (35), with whom he added 126 runs for the sixth wicket.

By the time Tahir was dismissed, he had lifted Pakistan A from 187/5 to 313/6.

A few lusty blows from the lower order batters Mehran Mumtaz (13) and Mohammad Wasim (17*) eventually took them to 352/8 in 50 overs.

For India A, Parag (2/24) and Rajvardhan Hangargekar (2/48) picked up two wickets apiece.

Needing to chase a massive target, India A were off to a good start with openers Sai Sudharsan and Abhishek Sharma bringing up their 50-run stand in less than six overs.

But once Sudharsan (29) fell in the ninth over to a well directed bouncer from Arshad Iqbal, India A kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Sharma did reach a solid half-century, but soon fell for 61. Skipper Dhull held the innings together for a long time with a good-looking 39, but could not do much further.

The lack of game-time for the Indian middle-order batters in the tournament came back to haunt them as batters Nikin Jose (11), Nishant Sindhu (10), Dhruv Jurel (9) and Parag (14) got starts, but all failed to convert it to anything substantial.

For Pakistan A, Sufiyan Muqeem (3/66) was the pick of the bowlers even as Iqbal, Mumtaz, and Wasim picked up two wickets apiece.