Bahrain crush Maldives by seven wickets while Qatar hold nerves to clinch cliff-hanger vs Saudi Arabia
Bahrain vs Maldives
Bahrain handed a seven-wicket thrashing to Maldives as the action resumed in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia A Qualifier after a day’s rest. At the Asian Town Stadium on Wednesday, they first contained the rivals at 88 for nine with skipper Anasim Khan and Waseeq Ahmed sharing six scalps. Umar Adam (31 off 22 with a six and a four) and Mohamed Rishwan (15 off 15 with a six) were the only players to hit double figures.
Bahrain launched their pursuit in an explosive manner and collected 22 in the opening over by Umar Adam. Muhammad Younis and Sarfaraz Ali were in belligerent mood. While the former blasted two sixes and the latter slammed two boundaries to make their intent clear.
Later, Ali was the first to depart. At 41, who was bowled by Ibrahim Nashath for 22 off 11 balls, which included three fours and a six. One over later, Younis was also dismissed. He fell to Ibrahim Hassan, who got rid of Sathaiya Veerapathiran.
Younis faced only 13 deliveries and his 31 contained two sixes and four boundaries. Veerapathiran also displayed aggressive batting and smashed four boundaries in his 16.
Bahrain skipper Khan, in the seventh over, faced Mohamed Mahfooz. Off the fourth ball, he fired a boundary and belted out two successive sixes to pull off 18 runs, bringing an early end to the match.
Player of the match: Anasim Khan of Bahrain
Qatar vs Saudi Arabia
Left-handed batsman Imal Liyanage displayed his steely nerves and set up the platform for Qatar’s tense but pulsating five-wicket victory against Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. After the hosts lost the opener to Bahrain, this fixture was quite significant and it was indeed a roller-coaster victory for them with two balls to go.
Qatar battled hard to restrict Saudi Arabia, who were on a charge after beating a strong Kuwait to have two wins in two games, at 130 for nine, despite opener Faisal Khan’s superb 42. His 29-ball knock was studded with seven hits to the boundary line.
During the pursuit, Qatar struggled, and to make the matter worse, they lost wickets as well. From two down for 12, they reached 54 through Liyanage and Mohammed Rizlan (22 off 17 with three fours) through an important third-wicket alliance. Then Muhammad Tanveer helped Liyanage take the score to 90 before he was trapped leg before by Imran Arif for 17 off 21.
While wickets kept falling around him, Liyanage valiantly absorbed the pressure, and grafted himself in as the wickets kept falling around him. Off the final 18 balls, Qatar required 34 runs. Liyanage was yorked by Abdul Wahid for 44. He smashed two big sixes and four boundaries in his game-changing 45-ball knock.
Qatar however collected 15 runs from the 18th over through Zaheer Ibrahim and Muhammad Murad Khan, promoted by skipper Iqbal Hussain Choudhry. The pair added nine runs from the next to leave 10 runs needed off the final six balls. Khan slogged Hisham Sheikh for a mid-wicket six and then Ibrahim cut him for a third-man boundary to spark jubilation at the venue.
Khan was excited with the finish and commented: “We are capable of getting about 10 runs an over in the closing stages. I was happy with that six and seeing the team home. It was an important match for us. All the players contributed and we managed to win to keep our challenge for the title alive.”
Skipper Choudhry expressed happiness at his successful move by sending Khan ahead of him. “Yeah, I took the gamble and am glad that it worked well. Khan is a team player and he proved it today.
“We’re ranked 21st in the world. We wanted to show that we’re capable of coming back even after a loss. We have confidence in the abilities of our players. It was a fantastic win and now we have to play against Kuwait on the last day.
“On Thursday, we’ll have clear idea what we have to do against Kuwait and Inshallah, we’ll deliver once again just as we did today,” Choudhry added.
Man of the match Liyanage was pleased with his vital performance. “It is the first player of the match award for me in any ICC event. I’m quite excited and happy about it. I hope to come out with more such performances in future. The plan was to take the match deep.
“I wanted to stay till the end. This did not happen unfortunately as we kept losing the wickets. However, I was happy to set up the platform, which was used by Zaheer and Murad,” he added.
Player of the match: Imal Liyanage of Qatar