Cox’s Bazar: Tariq Stanikzai's steady, unbeaten 106 steered Afghanistan Under-19s to a five-wicket win in the Under-19 World Cup plate final against Zimbabwe Under-19s held on Friday at the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium.

Chasing a winning target of 217 runs set by Zimbabwe, Afghanistan reached home making 218 in 46.5 overs with five wickets in hand.

Tariq's century and his unbeaten 95-run partnership with Rashid Khan steadied Afghanistan's shaky chase of 217 before taking them over the line in the 47th over. After losing their openers by the 10th over of the chase, Afghanistan were left struggling at 123 for 5 in the 31st overs, after which Tariq and Rashid took charge of the innings, source cricket website.

Zimbabwe's innings, which suffered an early collapse, was propped up 50s from wicketkeeper Ryan Murray and No.6 batsman William Mashinge. Left-arm spinner Zia-ur-Rehman's early strikes left Zimbabwe tottering at 15 for 3 in the seventh over after they chose to bat.  

Murray made a substantial contribution in the face of the collapse, scoring 53 of the side's total of 85 by the time he was dismissed in the 19th over. Mashinge's seventh-wicket partnership of 66 with Adam Keefe offered Zimbabwe some stability and Mashinge's 66 runs off 92-ball helped push the score past 200, but once the pair were separated, medium-pacer Muslim Musa struck with quick lower-order wickets to limit Zimbabwe to 216 for 9.