Iran routed Afghanistan 14-0 to secure the third position in the 10th West Asia Baseball Cup at the Punjab Stadium here on Tuesday and with this win claimed the bronze medal. As both Iran and Afghanistan could not have won a singles match before this match, so, Iran with this big victory seized the third spot, while Afghanistan remained at the bottom in the four-nation contest. Last league match, which will also decide the winner of the Cup is set to be played between Sri Lanka and the hosts Pakistan on Wednesday. Pakistan and Sri Lanka knocked home with big margin wins against their rivals, as a grueling fight for the supremacy is being expected between the two. But Pakistan will enter as hot favourite due to its world ranking of 21st, against around 33 of the Sri Lankans.
Meanwhile, in the one-sided match, Iran dominated the proceeding from start to finish against Afghanistan. While its batters kept scoring, their pitchers well stopped the rivals’ batters to earn a single run. Iran earned three runs in the first innings as Babak Mohmani, Kayan Rana and Abtin contributed one run each.
In the second innings, Majid Pashayi scored the solitary run to increase the lead of Iran 4-0. In the third Innings, the winning side added three more runs as Babak, Kayan and Jawad Ghauri all making one run apiece to make the score 7-0. Yasim Sharifi and Kayan kept the scoreboard ticking for Iran chipping in with one run each in the fourth innings as the lead has been further increased to 9-0. Iran’s batters continued their domination and went to add two more runs in the fifth innings as Yasim and Majid were the scorers to make the overall lead 11-0. The last innings saw, Iran showing no mercy for Afghanistan and plundered three more runs one each through Kayan Rana, Jawad Ghouri and Nima Baghernia to complete the tally.
Director General Sports Board Punjab Usman Anwar was the chief guest and Shaukat Javed President Pakistan Federation Baseball, Khawar Shah Secretary General Pakistan Federation Baseball, Mohson Khan, Haider Lahri, Asif Iqbal Khan official of Pakistan Federation Baseball were present at the occasion.
