Vaibhav shines as Oman rout USA

Sports Tuesday 05/December/2017 14:31 PM
By: Times News Service
Vaibhav shines as Oman rout USA

Muscat: A solid 72 from Vaibhav Wategaonkar, followed by brilliant bowling by Jay Odedara, Bilal Khan and Ajay Lalcheta, helped Oman to a comfortable 117-run victory against the visiting USA in the first of the three-match series at Ministry of Sports Affairs Ground I in Al Amerat on Monday.
Opting to bowl first, USA found early success dismissing openers Khawar Ali and Jatinder Singh cheaply while one drop Aaqib Ilyas had to retire due to injury. Zeeshan Siddiqui failed to fire and left after scoring just 12 runs.
Vaibhav put Oman back on road to recovery with a solid 49-run partnership with captain Sultan Ahmed followed by another 53 with Ajay Lalcheta for the fifth wicket. While no other batsman could do anything worthwhile Vaibhav battled on to help Oman to a fighting total of 225 all out in exactly 50 overs.
Roy Silva bowled splendidly for USA to claim three wickets for 36 in his quota of 10 overs. Elmore Hutchinson and TK Patel bagged two wickets each.
USA had a disastrous start to their chase, tumbling to 30 for five in the 10th over as Bilal Khan and Ajay Lalcheta ran through the top and middle order, taking two wickets each.
Khawar and Jay tightened the noose with further strikes and USA folded up for a meagre 108 in the 31st over. Ibrahim Khalil topscored with 37 off 66 balls.
The two teams will lock horns in the second match on Tuesday, a day-night affair, starting at 2 pm.
Brief scores: Oman 225 all out in 50 overs (Vaibhav Wategaonkar 72, Ajay Lalcheta 33, Aaqib Ilyas 31, Sultan Ahmed 28; Roy Silva 3/36, Elmore Hutchinson 2/43, TK Patel 2/44) bt USA 108 all out in 30.4 overs (Ibrahim Khalil 37, Jay Odedara 3/29, Bilal Khan 2/15, Ajay Lalcheta 2/15, Khawar Ali 2/32).