They were labeled as the dark horses for a reason. The Afghan youngsters have taken the U19 World Cup by storm by their relentlessness. They have perhaps been the best team in the tournament alongside India and they showed just that against host nation New Zealand.

After winning the toss and batting first, Afghanistan raged to 309 runs in their 50 overs with the loss of 6 wickets. Both openers Rahmanullah and Ibrahim Zadran got half centuries and took the team to a 117 runs stand

Baheer Shah was the third player to score a half-century, finishing with 67 runs under his belt. Meanwhile, Azmatulla’s destructive finish helped the team to a score of over 300. His 66 came off only 23 balls.

The Kiwi bowlers were just toyed around with as none of them could halt the Afghan train, with the exception of Sandeep Patel. He took 2 wickets in his 3 overs to give away only 13 runs. The others were all expensive.

In response, the pressure of the target got to the home side as they faded away for a puny score of 107 runs, giving the Afghans a convincing 202 runs win. Only Dale Phillips and Katene Clarke got a start as duo scored over 30 runs, respectively.

The Afghan bowlers ran riot against the Kiwi youngsters. Mujeeb Zadran and Qais Ahmed picked four scalps each while Naveen-ul-Haq got one wicket with the other one being a run-out.

This just makes us wonder as to what could have happened had Rashid Khan, who was eligible to play in the U19 World Cup, being picked for the tournament.