Afghanistan had never won the Hong Kong Sixes in the tournament's 34-year history and arrived at Mission Road Ground last Friday as nobody's favourites. Three days later they left as champions without losing a match.
Gulbadin Naib's side beat Australia by four wickets in Sunday's Cup final, chasing 116 in 5.1 overs after Imran Mir took the game away with 53 from 14 balls.
It makes Afghanistan the eighth nation to lift the trophy and ends a run of six titles for Pakistan, who came into the weekend as defending champions.
Twelve teams contested the 22nd edition across 30 October to 1 November, split into four groups of three with the Cup, Plate and Bowl brackets dividing them by group position. India, captained by Krunal Pandya, finished 11th.
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Afghanistan won the Cup, which is the overall title. They beat Australia by four wickets in the final at Mission Road Ground in Mong Kok on Sunday, November 1.
Australia made 115 in their six overs, with Max Bryant striking 44 from 14 balls and Alex Ross finishing unbeaten on 29 off 10. Nangeyalia Kharoti took the only Afghanistan wicket, going for 17.
The chase began badly. Karim Janat went for 13 off five to Patrick Dooley, and Gulbadin followed for 17 off six to Chris Green, leaving Afghanistan two down inside two overs.
What followed settled it. Imran Mir hit seven sixes and two fours in his 14-ball 53, Farmanullah Safi smashed four sixes in an unbeaten 26 from seven balls, and the pair took Afghanistan to 119 for 2 with five deliveries to spare. Imran was named player of the match.
The campaign was unbeaten throughout. Afghanistan chased 108 to beat South Africa by three wickets in their Group D opener, saw off Oman, then posted 121 and restricted Scotland to 100 in the semi-final to win by 21 runs.
The tournament splits into three brackets after the group stage.
Group winners go into the Cup, runners-up into the Plate and third-placed sides into the Bowl, which determines the final order from first to twelfth.
That leaves the final order as follows:
Pakistan's defence ended in the Plate bracket, which means a fifth-placed finish a year after winning a record sixth title.
India lost both their group matches, against Pakistan and the UAE.
The Krunal Pandya-led side signed off with a five-wicket win over Bangladesh in the 11th-place play-off, chasing 117 off the final ball, a second successive tournament spent in the lower bracket.
Deepanjan Mitra is a content writer and editor based in India, with extensive experience working across a variety of sports. He combines a passion for storytelling with an ability to deliver insightful news, analysis, and feature stories and has previously worked for the likes of Sports Illustrated and Essentially Sports.
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