Oman qualifies for semi-finals of ICC U19 Men’s World Cup Asia Division 2 Saudi Arabia still struggling to stay in league: Saudi Arabia took on Bhutan in the TCG, and Oman faced Hong Kong, China in the AIT on the fourth day of the ICC U19 Men’s World Cup Asia Division 2 Qualifiers in Bangkok.
The match was played in Group B against Oman and Hong Kong at the top of the table at AIT. China had won their opening matches but Saudi Arabia and Bhutan were hoping for better things in their encounters at the TCG after losing their first-round matches.
It was an exciting day of cricket as Oman booked their place in the semi-finals with a 53-run win over Hong Kong, China kept their hopes alive with a one-wicket win over Bhutan in the AIT and Saudi Arabia kept their hopes alive by defeating Bhutan by one wicket in the TCG. Outside.
In the TCG, Bhutan won the toss and elected to bat first and they got off to a good start against the medium pace of Fahadh Munir and the slow left-arm spin of Ahmed Faisal.
Faisal made 18 off 18 balls with 4 fours before Sherring Rigden was bowled, but No. 3 Tenzin Rabge took his shots despite the wicket.
Raunak Pradhan batted more cautiously but he made good combinations and made a 50-run partnership for the second wicket. After 15 overs, Bhutan’s score was 83 runs for 1 wicket.
Arhaan Arif ended Tenzin Rabage’s charming innings and Saudi Arabia got one more out. After 20 overs, Bhutan’s score was 95 for 3 and at the halfway stage of the innings, Ronak and Ugyen Dorjee scored 114 runs. The run rate slowed down but Bhutan was determined to play the full 50 overs.
Bhutan’s 150 was reached in the 35th over when Raunak Pradhan and Ugyen Dorjee were still at the crease, but Raunak’s patient innings ended at 34 off 88 balls as he was caught and bowled by Taha Amre and soon after, the fifth wicket fell as Kishan Subba was out. 1 as Taha took his third wicket.
As Bhutan’s lower order struggled, Taha took another wicket and finished with excellent figures of 4/27. Jigme Tenzin hit two fours but Bhutan could score only 178 runs in 47 overs.
Saudi Arabia lost openers Shehzad Sami and Rayan Khan early before Mohammad Zuber and Mohammad Rehan revived the innings. Zuber liked the spin bowling that started in the 8th over and Saudi Arabia reached 56 runs by hitting one-four each in the last two overs of the powerplay.
Zuber was on the charge, hitting five fours off the spinners, but he was caught by Ajit Limbu on 31 off 42 balls and the score was 70/3.
Bhutan picked up the pace and Jigme Tenzin soon dismissed Hashir for 10 and soon they lost half their team as new batsman Anas was run out without opening the account. Well set Rehan also soon followed and Jigme once again landed the crucial blow.
Saudi Arabia continued to lose wickets and slipped to 117/8. The lower order fought hard and boundaries from Omair Ahmed rekindled their hopes. Omair and Ahmed Faisal batted intelligently, scoring single runs, as Saudi Arabia began to inch closer to the target.
Saudi Arabia was 10 runs away from victory when Tenzin Rabage dismissed Omair for 23, but not before the 9th wicket pair added 52 precious runs.
The last wicket pair kept their composure as Ahmed Faisal, who remained unbeaten on 22 off 63 balls, scored the winning run with a boundary to fine leg and kept Saudi Arabia’s hopes of progressing in the tournament alive.
In the AIT, Oman won the toss and elected to bat against Hong Kong, China, but lost Jeet Shah and Gaurav Dinesh inside the powerplay. Rishan Shah kept the pressure on Oman by taking two more wickets as Hong Kong, China bowlers were on top with Oman scoring 41/4 in 17 overs.
Anik Chakraborty and Rahil Habibullah combined for 110 runs, both batsmen reaching their half-centuries, and Oman staged a rally. After Habibullah was caught by skipper Shiv Mathur and Aneek was bowled by Shah for 51, Daniel Mapp finally made the breakthrough.
Shah went on a rampage once the partnership fell apart, finishing with figures of 7/21 from his 8 overs. Oman recovered strongly from 41/4 and reached 180.
Oman got off to a dream start with the ball as Dinesh trapped Arez Dar for a duck and then had Arya caught and bowled out for 8 in his second over. Shiv Mathur and Matthew Clayton led the team with a partnership of 47 runs before Clayton was run out after scoring 28 runs from 69 balls.
The pressure was increasing on the batsmen as Khrish Butani was also run out before Mathur’s fifth wicket fell.
Daniel Mapp fought back, scoring 26 runs from 46 balls, but was the last wicket to fall at 127 and was out for 127 runs in 46 overs. Oman registered their second win of the competition by 53 runs and secured their first place in Group A.
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