American Premier League 2023 Points Table: Updated Standings after Premium Afghans vs Premium Aussies

Premium Afghans defeated Premium Aussies by four runs in Match No. 21 of the American Premier League (APL) 2023 at the Moosa Stadium in Pearland on Friday, December 29. Premium Paks beat Premium Canadians by 21 runs in the earlier game of the day.

Premium Afghans cemented their spot at third with four wins and two defeats to account for eight points and a net run rate (NRR) of -1.956. The Afghans are behind Premium Indians and Premium Windies on the points table.

Premium Indians are the only undefeated side in the tournament with four wins and two matches without results to pick 10 points and an NRR of 1.814. Premium Windies finished second on the table with four wins and two defeats with the best NRR (2.321) among all teams.

Premium Paks’ recent win against Premium Canadians helped them gain an edge over Premium Americans at fourth position. The Paks have won two matches and lost two, while two of their matches were abandoned, and thus, they accumulated six points at an NRR of -0.244.

Premium Americans were eliminated from the race to the semi-finals after Premium Paks’s victory. The team won two matches, suffered three losses and one match was abandoned, which meant they ended with five points and an NRR of 0.58.

Meanwhile, Premium Canadians and Premium Aussies finished in sixth and seventh place, respectively, with no wins next to their names.

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Premium Afgahsn beat Premium Aussies to advance to semis

Premium Afghans opener Usman Ghani smashed a blistering unbeaten century (101 runs off 62 balls). The Afghanistan player hammered four boundaries and nine sixes in the carnage to register the first century in the second season of the APL 2023. Ghani’s exploits propelled Afghans to post 169 for 5, which proved enough in the end.

Premium Aussies captain Ben Cutting’s marathon innings of 63 runs off 18 balls, striking astonishingly at 350, went in vain after his teammates failed to capitalize on the advantage at the halfway mark. From 115 for 4 in 10 overs, the Aussies added just 50 runs in the second half of the innings with the loss of four wickets.

Afghans left-arm spinner Waqarullah Ishaq picked two wickets for 33 runs from three overs at an economy rate of 11. Bowling spearhead Yousuf Zazai (1/22) defended eight runs in the final over, conceding just three, to take the Afghans home.