Asia Cup 2018, Qualifiers- Day 4: Round-up

The qualifying round of the Asia Cup 2018 is getting quite interesting with every game that passes by. At the end of the fourth day of action, all the six teams have played four games each. With one more game to go, Oman, UAE, Hong Kong and Nepal are competing for the top two spots.

Singapore and Malaysia have been knocked out of the tournament. Since they will be playing each other in their final game, they cannot spoil the other team’s party. The winner of Oman and UAE game on Tuesday will proceed straight to the final. Here is how things progressed on the fourth day of the Asia Cup Qualifiers:

Hong Kong vs Oman – Match 10

Hong Kong won the toss and opted to bowl first in this match. Oman batsmen, having done really well in the previous games failed to deliver in this one. The team was bundled out for just 183 runs. Mohammad Nadeem (54) and Ahmad Fayyad Butt (50) did the bulk of the scoring for the team. Ehsan Nawaz picked 4 wickets for Hong Kong in the match.

Hong Kong started off the chase on a positive note with 25 runs off the first 5 overs before there was a rain interruption. The resumption of play was not possible again as the rain kept on pouring down hard. Hence the match was abandoned with both the sides sharing one point each.

Brief Scores:

Oman: 183/10 in 50 overs (Mohammad Nadeem 54, Ahmad Fayyad Butt 50, Ehsan Nawaz 4/39)

Hong Kong: 25/0 in 5 overs (Christopher Carter 14*, Anshuman Rath 5*, Kaleemullah 0/7)

Result: No result (Match abandoned due to rain)

United Arab Emirates vs Malaysia – Match 11

After bagging some major embarrassment in the previous game, UAE was up against Malaysia on the fourth day. Malaysia won the toss and opted to bat first only to see themselves bowled out for just 92 runs in 31.3 overs. Sharvin Muniandy with 16 runs was the leading run-scorer in the innings while Muhamad Syahadat and Suharril Fetri scored 14 runs each. Ahmed Raza picked 4 wickets with the ball for UAE.

This chase was quite a cakewalk and all they needed was just 8.1 overs to finish it off. Skipper Rohan Mustafa walked out to open the innings instead of Chirag Suri in this match. He remained unbeaten on 38 off 26 deliveries. Suri, who came in at No 3 scored 22 runs off just 10 balls. With the help of a 13-ball 26 from Rameez Shahzad, UAE comfortably won the game by 8 wickets.

Brief Scores:

Malaysia: 92/10 in 31.3 overs (Sharvin Muniandy 16, Muhamad Syahadat 14, Ahmed Raza 4/28)

UAE: 93/2 in 8.1 overs (Rohan Mustafa 38*, Rameez Shahzad 26*, Syed Aziz 2/35)

Result: UAE won by 8 wickets

Nepal vs Singapore – Match 12

After struggling in the first two games, Nepal has made a decent come back in the tournament. In this encounter, Singapore won the toss and opted to bat first. The team’s struggles with the bat are well-known and all they could manage to score is just 151 runs before they were bowled out. Skipper Suryawanshi scored 60 runs while Anish Paraam mustered 31. The team could have posted a much better score had at least one of these two had carried on. Sandeep Lamichhane and Lalit Rajbanshi picked 3 wickets each.

Although Nepal seemed to have struggled in the chase, Anil Sah and Dipendra Airee played important knocks to help the team bag an important win. While Anil scored 43 off 32 balls, Dipendra Airee managed 33 runs off 34 balls. Gyanendra Malla with 29 runs off 35 balls played an important role in the win. Nepal chased the target down in 28.1 overs and won the match by 4 wickets.

Brief Scores:

Singapore: 151/10 in 42 overs (Suryawanshi 60, Anish Paraam 31, Lalit Rajbanshi 3/27)

Nepal: 152/6 in 28.1 overs (Anil Sah 43, Dipendra Airee 33, Selladore Vijayakumar 2/33)

Result: Nepal won by 4 wickets.

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