Sri Lanka A vs Afghanistan A Highlights, T20 Final: Sediqullah Atal’s 55 help AFG A clinch maiden title

Nimesh Vimukthi in the attack and Atal with a 6!!! Amnd 50 comes up fo him. And that's another 4 anmd AFG are close to a win. AFG 130/3 after 18 overs

Hemantha to bowl his last over and after Atal takes a single, Mohammad Ishaq sweeps for a 6!!! 9 from this over ultimately. AFG 104/3 after 16 overs

Eshan Malinga continues and yields just 2 runs from the first 3 deliveries as the AFG batters deal in singles. Quick running between the wickets to bring up the 50-run partnership. And the bowler strikes!! Janat is cleaned up!!

Karim Janat b Eshan Malinga 33(27)

Dushan Hemantha back in the attack and Karim Janat welcomes him with a huge six!! Follows that up with a slog sweep for another 6!!! Dear me!! What a hit!! Good comeback from the bowler as he bamboozles Janat in back to back balls. A single to end. AFG 89/2 after 14 overs

Eshan Malinga in the attack now and after a couple of dots, Sediqullah Atal takes a single to put Janat on strike. Two more singles to get 4 from this over. AFG A 76/2 after 13 overs

Mendis in the attack again and Afghanistan are taking singles and braces as the target becomes smaller and smaller. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, need the wickets. 5 from this one. AFG A 72/2 after 12 overs

Nimesh Vimukthi back in the atatck and Atal and Janat mine 5 runs from the first three deliveries as they comfortably move towards the target. And Janat smashes a 6 to end this over!! AFG A 67/2 after 11 overs

Ramesh Mendis in the attack now and Atal sweeps to get a boundary as 50 comes up for Afghanistan. 6 from this over ultimately and at the halfway stage AFG A are 55/2 after 10 overs.

Hemantha in the attack again and gives away just 2 singles from the first 5 deliveries. The last ball is also a dot as SL keep the pressure on AFG. AFG A 49/2 after 9 overs

Ramesh Mendis in the attack again and Atal with a single to start this one off. Shouts for an LBW next but the umpire says no. Fumble in the field next which allows a single. Not good enough. AFG A 47/2 after 8 overs

Hemantha has been brought into the atatck early for a breakthrough and he STRIKES!!!! Darwish Rasooli tries a swipe and that has gone straight into the hands of Fernando. 

Darwish Rasooli c Fernando b Hemantha 24(20) 

Ramesh Mendis in the attack now and AFG mine 2 runs from the first 2 deliveries. Darwish Rasooli takes two next as AFG look to waltz to the target. AFG 43/1 after 6 overs

Nipun Ransika in the attack now and Atal with a straight shot for a four!!! He takes a single next and Rasooli swings for 4 more!! And lifts the next ball straight ovewr the bowler's head for a monstrous 6!!!! Another slow delivery and Rasooli pulls for a 4 to end this one!! AFG A 37/1 after 5 overs

Vimukthi continues and Atal mines 3 runbs from the first couplev of deliveries. Sri Lanka need wickets here as AFG are getting comfortable in the middle. No boundaries thus far. And Atal tries to go down the ground but gets just 2!! AFG A 18/1 after 4 overs

Sahan Arachchige back in the attack and Atal takes a single to start. Rasooli with a single of his own and AFG are dealing in singles at the moment. AFG A 11/1 after 3 overs

Nimesh Vimukthi in the attack now and after 2 dots and a wide, Darwish Rasooli takes a single to put Atal on strike. Just 3 from this over ultimately. AFG 6/1 after 2 overs

Arachchige will begin the attack for Sri Lanka and Zubaid Akbari and Sediqullah Atal will start the run chase for Afghanistan. AND HE'S GONE!! Akbari has been castled in the very first ball of the innings!!

Zubaid Akbari b Sahan Arachchige 0(1)

Last over now and can Sri lanka get 130+? Abdul Rahman to bowl this one and Hemantha with 2 runs to start. Follows that up with a single and Sahan is on strike. Full stop ball and he smashes it but not far enough as he gets 2. Nicely bowled next but Sahan still squeezes in a single. Another single from byes next and we are down to the last ball. And Sahan ends with a boundary!!! SL A post 133/7 after 20 overs

Penultimate over of the innings now and Karim Janat will bowl this one. Hemantha with a single and Saran follows it up with a scoop shot for a 4!!!! Dilshan would have been proud of that one. SL 122/7 after 19 overs

Bilal Sami has struck agaion in the same over!!! Ramesh Mendis facing his first ball is castled!!! Another mini collapse for SL to endure

Ramesh Mendis b Bilal Sami 0(1)

Bilal Sami in the attack and after a single, there goes another wicket and that's the 2nd run out of the innings!! Nimesh Vimukthi has to depart!!

17th over now and Nimesh Vimukthi takes 3 runs from the first couple of deliveries as 100 comes up for Sri Lanka. Shout for LBW next but no dice from the umpire. Direct hit and he was a goner but Janat can't hit the wickets!! SL 106/5 after 17 overs

Qais Ahmad in the atatck again and the Sri Lankan batters take singles to start. Nimesh Vimukthi breaks the shackles and whacks the next ball, right between the reach of two fielders to get a 4!! Takes 2 more as SL look to post at least 130+. SL A 98/5 after 16 overs

On to the 15th over and Karim Janat has been brought into the attack. Saran with a single to start and Vimukthi with a huge six!!! A single next and Saran is back on strike. Ufff!! Tries a cheeky shot, gets it all wrong but gets a 4 nontheless!! SL 88/5 after 15 overs

Sharafuddin Ashraf in the attack again and Saran takes a single to start. Nimesh Vimukthi on strike and after 2 dots, he takes a single of his own. 4 from this over. SL A 69/5 after 13 overs

Qais Ahmad back in the attack and Sri Lanka batters keep taking quick singles much to the frustration of the AFG players. And what happened here??? Where did the run out come from??? This is absolutely suicidal!! Why go for the second run? Absolute gift!! Pawan Rathnayake departs!!

Pawan Rathnayake run out (Darwish Rasooli/Mohammad Ishaq) 20(21)

Sharafuddin Ashraf in the attack now and Sahan takes a single to start this one off. Pawan returns the favour with a single of his own. Quick running between the wickets bring SL 2 runs. SL A 60/4 after 11 overs

Abdul Rahman continues and Saran picks it up off his leg for a boundary!! He is leading SL's comeback at the moment. Pawan with a six next to bring up his team's 50!! What a shot!! SL A 55/4 after 10 overs

Qais Ahmad in the attack now and Rathnayake and Arachchige keep rotating the strike, content to just mine in singles. Just 4 from the over so far with one remaining. Nothing from it. SL A 43/4 after 9 overs

Abdul Rahman in the attack now and Sahan takes 2 to start. Follows it up with a perfectly timed boundary!! Zubaid tries to save but couldn't time it. SL A 39/4 after 8 overs

Ghazanfar in to bowl his final over and starts with back to back dots as Pawan Rathnayake is cautious. Sri Lanka need a partnership now so they do not need to take unnecessary risks. 3 runs next as Pawan chips behind. SL 29/4 after 7 overs 

Last over inside the powerplay and Bilal Sami starts this one with a wide!! Follows that up with a dot. Sahan Arachchige punches the next ball but a great bit of fielding saves a boundary!! Pulls the next ball but again, a fielder is stationed near the boundary to keep it at 2. SL A 25/4 after 6 overs 

Allah Ghazanfar in the attack and will you believe it, he has struck again!!! Ahan Wickramasinghe tries to play it leg side, the ball bamboozles him and goes through his gate to rattle his stumps!!

Ahan Wickramasinghe b Allah Ghazanfar 4(6)

Bilal will continue and Wickramasinghe swings and misses the first ball before playing the second ball into the hands of the fielder. Still no runs in this over. Uffff!!! Close call from that single. If that had hit, Sri Lanka were looking at losing third third wicket. Finally Udara gets a proper chance to smash and smash he did. Over the circle to the deep extra cover boundary. AND HE'S GONE AS WELL!! Tries a swing and gets an inside edge which rattles his stumps!!

Lahiru Udara b Bilal Sami 5(9)

Ghazanfar continues and Udara takes a quick single to get off mark. Fernando on strike and he brings out a drive to get a boundary!! A rare bad ball from the bowler. AND GONE!!!! That was desperate from the batter as he tries to come forward and is stumped!!!

Fernando st Mohammad Ishaq b Allah Ghazanfar 4(7)

Bilal Sami comes into the attack and he STRIKES!!! Lanka attempts a forced shot over the circle, gets it all wrong and Darwish Rasooli with an easy catch!!

Y Lanka c Darwish Rasooli b Bilal Sami 1(4)

Yashodha Lanka and Lahiru Udara will start the innings for Sri Lanka while Allah Ghazanfar has the new ball in hand. After a couple of dots, Lanka takes a single to get off the mark. Huge shout for an LBW on Udara but the umpire isn't interested. Nothing from the remaining balls as well. excellent start. SL A 1/0 after 1 over

Here are both sets of players lined up and it's time for the national anthems. Afghanistan's first, followed by Sri Lanka's.

Lahiru Udara(w), Yashodha Lanka, Ahan Wickramasinghe, Nuwanidu Fernando(c), Sahan Arachchige, Pawan Rathnayake, Ramesh Mendis, Dushan Hemantha, Nimesh Vimukthi, Nipun Ransika, Eshan Malinga

Zubaid Akbari, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli(c), Mohammad Ishaq(w), Sharafuddin Ashraf, Shahidullah Kamal, Karim Janat, Allah Ghazanfar, Qais Ahmad, Abdul Rahman, Bilal Sami

Sri Lanka A have won the toss and opted to bat first against Afghanistan A.

There have been 103 T20I matches in this ground with teams batting first winning 43 times while the team bowling first winning 59 times. The average first innings score is 148 while the average second innings score is 133.

The highest score recorded in this ground is 220/5 made by Oman vs Bahrain while the lowest is 57 all out by Oman Woman against Germany Women

Sri Lanka's Dushan Hemantha is the leading wicket taker in the tournament with 14 scalps and he is followed by India's Rasikh Dar Salam with 9. Bangladesh's Ripon Mondol is 3rd with 8 wickets while UAE's Muhammad Farooq and Hong Kong' s Anas Khan is 5th with 7 and 6 wickets respectively

Afghanistan's Sediqullah Atal leads the top run scorer's charts with 313 runs, followed by Hong Kong's Babar Hayat with 162 runs. Afghanistan's Zubaid Akbari is 3rd with 137 while India's Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma are 4th and 5th with 134 and 117 runs repectively.

AFG A Squad: Zubaid Akbari, Sediqullah Atal, Karim Janat, Darwish Rasooli(c), Mohammad Ishaq(w), Sharafuddin Ashraf, Shahidullah Kamal, Abdul Rahman, Allah Ghazanfar, Qais Ahmad, Bilal Sami, Nangeyalia Kharote, Wafiullah Tarakhil, Numan Shah, Faridoon Dawoodzai

SL A Squad: Yashodha Lanka, Lahiru Udara(w), Ahan Wickramasinghe, Nuwanidu Fernando(c), Sahan Arachchige, Pawan Rathnayake, Ramesh Mendis, Dushan Hemantha, Nimesh Vimukthi, Nipun Ransika, Eshan Malinga, Dinura Kalupahana, Isitha Wijesundera, Kavindu Nadeeshan, Lasith Croospulle

The pitch at the  Al Amerat Cricket Ground (Ministry Turf 1) is predominantly a batting friendly one with the team bowling first winning winning more matches than the team batting first. But as we saw in the IND vs AFG match, if you post a huge total batting first, chances are that you might walk away as the victor. The toss, is therefore, pretty important.

It'll be a proper bat vs ball clash as Sri Lanka has the tournament's highest wicket-taker Dushan Hemantha in their ranks who has taken 14 scalps in 4 matches thus far. The encounter between him and Atal will be fascinating to watch.

Speaking of Sediqullah Atal, the Afghanistan opener is in a hot streak of form scoring over 50 runs in all the innings he has played in the tournament thus far. This includes his devastating 83 against India A, 52 against Hong Kong, 95 against Bangladesh A and 83 against Sri Lanka A.

The last time these two sides met Afghanistan dominated proceedings with tournament high scorer Sediqullah Atal scoring 83 while his opening partner Zubaid Akbari scoring 57 as AFG posted 166. Nuwanidu Fernando would score 51 for SL A but Faridoon Dawoodzai took 3 wickets as AFG edged past SL.

The two teams have faced each other just once in T20Is and that too in this tournament where Sri lanka lost to Afghanistan in their opening encounter. They'll be hell bent on revenge on the grandest stage possible. 

vs Sri Lanka A: Won by 11 runs

vs Bangladesh A: Won by 4 wickets

vs Hong Kong: Lost by 5 wickets

vs India A: Won by 20 runs

vs Afghanistan A: Lost by 11 runs

vs Hong Kong: Won by 42 runs

vs Bangladesh A: Won by 19 runs

vs Pakistan A: Won by 7 wickets

After dumping out favourites India A in the semifinal, Afghanistan A will look for their maiden tirtle when they face a buoyant Sri Lanka A in the summit clash. Sri Lanka A, meanwhile, made it into the final after thrashing Pakistan A. Stay tuned for live updates.