The last league match, which will also decide the Cup winner, is set to be played between Sri Lanka and hosts Pakistan. -Photo by AP

LAHORE: Iran thrashed Afghanistan 14-0 to secure the third position in the 10th West Asia Baseball Cup at the Punjab Stadium here on Tuesday.

While both Iran and Afghanistan could not win any match before Tuesday, the big victory by Iran seized the third spot for them while Afghanistan remained at the bottom in the four-nation contest.

The last league match, which will also decide the Cup winner, is set to be played between Sri Lanka and hosts Pakistan on Wednesday. Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka romped home with big margins against their rivals and a gruelling contest is expected between the two outfits.

However, Pakistan will enter the decider as hot favourite due to its high world ranking of 21 as opposed to the 33rd 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 blocked the rivals’ batters to avoid even a single run from them.

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 Iran’s lead by 4-0. In the third Innings, the winning side added three more runs as Babak, Kayan and Jawad Ghauri all scored 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 on to add two more runs in the fifth innings through Yasin and Majid to enhance the overall lead to 11-0. The last innings saw Iran showing no mercy for Afghanistan and plundering three more runs, one each through Kayan Rana, Jawad Ghouri and Nima Baghernia to complete the tally.