Maaz Sadaqat carried on his blazing all-round form with a half-century and two wickets to help Pakistan Shaheens bag a thumping eight-wicket victory over India A in their second Group B fixture of the Men’s Asia Cup Rising Stars 2025 at the West End Park International Cricket Stadium in Doha on Sunday night.
Shaheen overhauled the 137-run target with 40 balls to spare and eight wickets in hand as the left-handed opening batter Maaz picked up his successive player of the match award on the back of yet another half-century (79 not out) and miserly bowling figures of 2-12 in three overs including a wicket-maiden.
Following on from his 54-ball 96 not out against Oman on Friday, Maaz struck seven fours and four sixes in the chase against India A keeping the bowlers on their toes. The Peshawar born 20-year-old also put on 55 runs with Mohammad Naeem (14, 10b, 1x4, 1x6) as the duo provided Shaheens a blazing start in the Powerplay.
Maaz took the sting out of India’s defence of the 136-run total with a 20-run seventh-over, where he hit Naman Dhir for two sixes completing his fifth T20 fifty off 31 balls as the required rate dropped below five.
From that juncture onwards, Pakistan Shaheens took 38 more balls to score the remaining 60 runs losing only no.3 batter Yasir Khan in the process.
Mohammad Faiq (16 not out, 14b, 1x4, 1x6), who also formed an unbeaten 41-run stand with Maaz, finished the game with a six as Shaheens made it two wins out of two in the tournament with their last group fixture against UAE scheduled for Tuesday.
Earlier, Shahid Aziz’s 3-24 coupled with Saad Masood and Maaz’s two wickets each restricted India A to 136 all out in 19 overs despite being 91-2 in 9.4 overs.
India A’s 8-45 collpase began with left-arm wrist-spinner Sufyan’s dismissal of their top-scorer and opening batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi (45, 28b, 5x4s, 3x6s) in the 10th over. Following a 30-run opening stand, which was broken by Shahid Aziz, Suryavanshi had put on 49 runs with Naman Dhir (35, 20b, 6x4s, 1x6) as the duo looked set for a big score.
Right-arm leg-spinner Saad made his presence felt with the valuable scalp of Naman in 9th over. With India A 101-3, Maaz flaunted his skillful left-arm spin with a wicket-maiden 13th over, which led to Saad picking up another wicket in the three-run 14th over.
Maaz’s second strike came in the 15th over when he got Nehal Wadhera stumped as India A reached 112-6. Ubaid Shah and Ahmed Daniyal landed their solitary blows in the next two overs further denting India A’s innings, while Shahid closed off the innings with two wickets in three balls in the 19th over.
PCB
