Asia Cup 2018, Qualifiers- Day 2: Round-up

The action resumed on the second day in the Asia Cup 2018 Qualifiers with three matches. While two of these games turned out to be a one-sided contest, one game left the fans on the edge of their seats. UAE and Oman have 4 points each and are first and second on the points table respectively.

Nepal and Singapore have lost both the games they played into the tournament and the chances of them getting into the finals look bleak. Both these teams have really struggled with their batting and will need to pull off something special in the next three games. Here is how things progressed on day 2 of the Asia Cup qualifier.

United Arab Emirates vs Nepal – Match 4

After winning their previous encounter comprehensively, UAE continued the dominance against Nepal as well. They were put into bat first by Nepal. Openers Chirag Suri and Ashfaq Ahmed scored 45 and 65 runs respectively and laid the perfect platform to put up a big total. After these two men fell, Rameez Shahzad with 35 runs and Adnan Mufti with an unbeaten 57 helped the team post 254 runs on the board. Sandeep Lamichhane, who went wicketless previously picked 4 wickets in this game.

Even though they did decently well with the ball, the Nepalese batsmen couldn’t deliver what was required. After getting a good platform courtesy a 50 from Khakurel and a 40 from Dipendra Airee, the other batsmen couldn’t get among the runs. The side was bundled out for just 176 runs and lost the game by 78 runs.

Brief Scores:

UAE: 254/9 in 50 overs (Chirag Suri 65, Adnan Mufti 57*, Sandeep Lamichhane 4/24)

NEP: 176/10 in 48.5 overs (Khakurel 50, Diprendra Airee 40, Ahmed Raza 4/37)

Result: UAE won by 78 runs

Hong Kong vs Singapore – Match 5

Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bowl first. Singapore’s vulnerability with the bat is a well-known fact and it was no different in this encounter. They were bowled out for just 150 runs in the match in 41.2 overs. Abhiraj Singh, with 42 runs was their leading run-scorer. Nadeem Ahmed picked 4 wickets for Hong Kong.

Although Hong Kong lost the openers early, the other batsmen ensured that they finish the chase comfortably. KD Shah was unbeaten on 47 runs and was also the highest run scorer in the innings. Nizakat Khan and Babar Hayat scored 36 and 26 runs respectively. Selladore Vijaykumar picked 3 wickets in the innings.

Brief Scores:

SIN: 150/10 in 41.2 overs (Abhiraj Singh 42, Aryaman Sunil 28, Nadeem Ahmed 4/30)

HK: 154/5 in 34.2 overs (KD Shah 47*, Nizakat Khan 36, Selladore Vijaykumar 3/25)

Result: Hong Kong won by 5 wickets

Oman vs Malaysia – Match 6

This is by far the best game of the tournament and provided the fans with great entertainment. Oman won the toss and put Malaysia into bat first. With the help of an unbeaten 74 from Virandeep Singh, Malaysia put 198 runs on the board in 50 overs. Syed Aziz with 27 runs was the next leading scorer. Hong Kong conceded 19 extras in the innings which would definitely not please them. Bilal Khan and Fayyad Butt picked 3 wickets each for Oman.

The chase went right down to the wire and the result was not known until the final over of the game was bowled. Vaibhav Wategaonkar continued his good form from the last game and scored 39 runs. The other batsmen contributed with a few runs as Oman inched closer to the target. However, they kept losing wickets at a regular interval and needed 6 runs off the final over and had two wickets in hand. Ajay Lalcheta kept his cool in this pressure situation and finished the match with a six.

Brief Scores:

MLY: 198/8 in 50 overs (Virandeep Singh 74*, Syed Azid 27, Bilal Khan 3/28)

OMAN: 199/8 in 49.2 overs (Ajay Lalcheta 44*, Vaibhav Wategaonkar 39, Abdul Rashid 4/30)

Result: Oman won by 2 wickets

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