Asia Cup 2018, Qualifiers- Day 3: Round-up

Three games were played on the third day of the Asia Cup Qualifier 2018. The action resumed in the tournament after a day’s break. However, two of the three matches that were played were affected by rain and hence had to be shortened. With three wins in three games, Oman seem to be the favourites to make it into the finals of the tournament.

Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates are the front-runners for the second berth in the final. Also, Singapore are out of the race having lost all the three games that they played. Here is how things progressed on the third day of the Qualifier:

Oman vs Singapore – Match 7

With the kind of performances, they put up in the last two games, it was expected that this game would be quite a cake walk for Oman. However, Singapore put up some great fightback with the bat. Although it was just two batsmen who did the majority of the scoring, for Singapore to get the total past 200 was a great achievement. Anish Paraam with 77 and R Rangarajan with 68 runs helped the side post 215 runs in 50 overs for the loss of 8 wickets.

But, Singapore’s bowling let them down. Aqib Ilyas set the stage on fire for Oman with 109 off just 70 balls. Further, with the help of a 46-ball 53 from Jatinder Singh and an unbeaten 36 from Khawar Ali, the side took just 26.4 overs to chase the target down.

Brief Scores:

Singapore: 215/8 in 50 overs (Anish Paraam 77, R Rangarajan 68, Bilal Khan 4/40)

Oman: 216/2 in 26.4 overs (Aqib Ilyas 109, Jatinder Singh 53, Manpreet Singh 1/23)

Result: Oman won by 8 wickets

Malaysia vs Nepal – Match 8

Nepal, after losing the first two games finally won this one. After being put into bat first, the Nepalese batsmen delivered for the first time in this tournament. In a game that was reduced to 30 overs per side, they put up 188 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Aarif Sheikh was brilliant with an unbeaten 64 off just 48 balls. Dipendra Airee scored 54 runs.

Malaysia tried hard in the chase and got as close as they could. But, they didn’t have enough firepower in their lineup to cross Nepal’s total. They fell short of the target by 19 runs. Anwar Arudin and Syed Aziz with 34 runs each were the highest scorers while skipper Ahmad Faiz scored 22 runs. Basant Regmi picked 3 wickets while Sandeep Lamichhane picked two.

Brief Scores:

NEP: 188/7 in 30 overs (Aarif Sheikh 64*, Dipendra Airee 54, Syazrul Idrus 3/27)

MLY: 169/9 in 30 overs (Syed Aziz 34, Anwar Arudin 34, Basant Regmi 3/36)

Result: Nepal won by 19 runs (Match reduced to 30 overs per side)

United Arab Emirates vs Hong Kong – Match 9

Two of the better performers in the tournament faced off each other in this encounter. Therefore, there were quite some expectations for this match. However, it ended up being quite a disappointment. UAE put Hong Kong into bat first in a match that was reduced to 49 overs per side. Courtesy two brilliant centuries from skipper Anshuman Rath (102) and Babar Hayat (107), the team posted 275 runs in 49 overs. There haven’t been any notable contributions from the other batsmen.

UAE team had fared really well with the bat in the previous two games. But, they fumbled and were bowled out for just 93 runs inside 25 overs. Chirag Suri, who was brilliant in the last two games was dismissed for just 1 run. 33 runs from skipper Rohan Mustafa was the highest individual score in the innings. Ehsan Khan picked up 4 wickets for Hong Kong.

Brief Scores:

HK: 275/8 in 49 overs (Babar Hayat 107, Anshuman Rath 102, Rohan Mustafa 3/55)

UAE: 93/10 in 24.5 overs (Rohan Mustafa 33, Muhammad Usman 19*, Ehsan Khan 4/19)

Result: Hong Kong won by 182 runs (Match reduced to 49 overs per side)

For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.