Asia Cup 2018, Qualifiers- Day 5: Round-up

It will be the United Arab Emirates battling out against Hong Kong in the final of the Asia Cup Qualifier on Thursday. Three games were played on the fifth day of the tournament. While Singapore and Malaysia were already knocked out, UAE, Oman, Hong Kong and Nepal fancied their chances to make it into the final.

By winning the crucial do-or-die encounter against Oman, UAE made it into the final of the tournament. This game was quite a close one and both the teams gave some tough competition to each other. Despite the heroics from Sandeep Lamichhane, Hong Kong managed to chase down a low total to book their berth in the ultimate match of the tournament. Here is how things progressed in the three games that were played.

Malaysia vs Singapore – Match 13

Singapore’s performance with the bat in this match was probably their best this tournament. They put up a mammoth 276 runs in 50 overs courtesy a splendid knock from Anish Paraam who scored 100 off just 95 balls. With the contributions from the other batsmen, the team got to the big score. However, they lost a flurry of wickets towards the end and could have ended up being in a much better position.

With the momentum with their side going into the second innings, Malaysia got off to a really good start. Wicketkeeper Shafiq Sharif scored 93 off 101 balls while skipper Ahmad Faiz scored 59 runs. Furthermore, Virandeep Singh got to a brisk half-century and the side was in the course of winning the game being 186/3 at one stage. However, they lost wickets aplenty in the last 10 overs as Singapore sealed the game by 29 runs.

Brief Scores:

Singapore: 276/9 in 50 overs (Anish Paraam 100, Manpreet Singh 34, Syazrul Idrus 3/51)

Malaysia: 247/10 in 49.5 overs (Shafiq Sharif 93, Ahmad Faiz 59, Amjab Mahboob 5/49)

Result: Singapore won by 29 runs

United Arab Emirates vs Oman – Match 14

UAE openers Ashfaq Ahmed and Chirag Suri gave the team some really good starts in the Asia Cup Qualifiers. However, they failed to deliver in this game. Suri took 27 balls to score 10 runs. Despite continuously losing wickets at the other end, UAE’s skipper Rohan Mustafa fought hard and scored 71 runs. The team could only get to 208 runs in 50 overs in this do-or-die game which was quite disappointing.

However, the bowlers put up an exceptional show to cover the batting failure. With the combined efforts, they bundled Oman out for 195 runs in 47.2 overs to make it into the final of the tournament. Opener Aqib Ilyas with 45 runs was the leading run scorer for the team. Mohammad Naveed, Amir Hayat and Rohan Mustafa picked two wickets each.

Brief Scores:

UAE: 208/8 in 50 overs (Rohan Mustafa 71, Ashfaq Ahmed 24, Ahmad Fayyad Butt 2/43)

Oman: 195/10 in 47.2 overs (Aqib Ilyas 45, Naseem Khushi 27*, Rohan Mustafa 2/31)

Result: UAE won by 13 runs.

Nepal vs Hong Kong – Match 15

The last game of the tournament ended up being a disaster for Nepal. They won the toss and opted to bat first. However, they witnessed one of the worst collapses and were bowled out for just 95 runs in 37.5 overs. None of their batsmen managed to go past even 20 runs and 18 runs from Aarif Sheikh was the highest score in the innings. Ehsan Khan was brilliant with the ball and picked up 4 wickets while Tanvir Afzal and Aizaz Khan picked two wickets each.

Although many thought that this would be one of the easiest chases for Hong Kong in this tournament, Sandeep Lamichhane had other plans. He picked 5 wickets in his 10 overs and conceded just 27 runs. The 18-year-old kid made the Hong Kong batsmen run for cover with his masterful bowling. However, a spirited fight from their skipper Anshuman Rath helped the team get over the winning line. He scored 52 off 82 balls as they won the game by 3 wickets and qualified for the title clash against the UAE.

Brief Scores:

Nepal: 95/10 in 37.5 overs (Aarif Sheikh 18, Anil Sah 15, Ehsan Khan 4/15)

Hong Kong: 96/7 in 32.3 overs (Anshuman Rath 52, Kinchit Shah 11, Sandeep Lamichhane 5/27)

Result: Hong Kong won by 3 wickets

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