Tuesday 30 / April / 2024
Muscat: Hosts Oman began their campaign in the second edition of the ACC Men’s Premier Cup 2024 with a thrilling three-run win over Bahrain in a Group B match at the Oman Cricket Academy ground on Friday.
It was an all-round show by the hosts as Aqib Ilyas, skipper Zeeshan Maqsood and Kashyap Prajapati excelled with their batting display while the bowlers rose to the occasion to defend the target.
Ilyas slammed a 53-ball 62, a knock that was studded with two boundaries and two maximums and picked two wickets for 41 runs to earn the player of the match award, while skipper Zeeshan Maqsood blazed his way to a 25-ball 45 that included four hits to the ropes and two sixes.
Chasing a tricky target of 178 to win after the hosts were put to bat and restricted to 177/3, Bahrain nearly pulled off a sensational win as they chased 11 runs to win in the last over.
Oman pacer Bilal Khan, however, produced a terrific over to concede only three runs off the last five balls after the first ball was hit for a four by Ahmer Bin Nasir, who stayed unbeaten on 26-ball 38.
The visitors were in deep trouble early as they were tottering at 22/3 in four overs with Bilal, Shakeel Ahmed and Fayyaz Butt tasting success. However, a 92-run fourth-wicket partnership between Imran Ali (50 off 34 balls) and skipper Haider Butt (47 off 27 balls) swung the match in Bahrain’s favour before Butt was castled by Shakeel in the 13th over and the team’s total at 114/4.
Ilyas took the key wicket of Imran in the next over to turn the scales in Oman’s favour and picked up his second wicket two balls later as he gladly accepted a caught and bowled chance from Sathaiya Veerapathiran to leave Bahrain at 124/6.
Ahmer Bin and Rizwan Butt then approached the target with a mix of aggression and caution to reach 157. Bilal got the wicket of Rizwan and Fayyaz Butt cleaned up Ali Dawood in the penultimate over to leave Bahrain at 160/8 with nine balls to go.
Fayyaz gave away seven more runs to leave Bilal with a task to defend ten runs and the pacer gave away seven for the hosts to record a thrilling win.
Earlier, Oman openers – Kashyap Prajapati and Naseem Khushi – had breezy start, scoring 26 off 16 balls before Khushi departed for seven-ball 18 (2x4, 1x6). Prajapati and Ilyas then shared a 64-run stand before Prajapati was stumped by Imran Ali off Abdul Majid for 30-ball 38.
Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood and Ilyas then took on the rival attack as they shared a 47-run partnership before Ilyas was adjudged leg before off Rizwan Butt after a stellar innings of 62 in 18th over with the team score at 137/3. Ilyas reached his 50 off 42 balls.
Maqsood and Rafiullah were involved in an unbroken 40-run stand that came of just 15 balls as Maqsood blasted four boundaries and a six in his knock of 45 while Rafiullah hit a maximum to put up a challenging score of 177 that Oman just about managed to defend.
10-nation tournament
The ten-nation tournament will see the winner qualify for the ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2025 while the top-three teams will secure a place in the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024.
Besides Oman and Bahrain, the other teams in fray are defending champions Nepal, UAE, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Qatar, Malaysia, Cambodia and Saudi Arabia.
Oman began their Group campaign underway on Friday with two points from the victory and share the table on top with UAE, which defeated Kuwait by seven wickets in the morning session of the day.
Group A comprises Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar and Saudi Arabia while Group B consists of Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Cambodia.
Brief scores: Oman 177/3 (Aqib Ilyas 62, Zeeshan Maqsood 45*, Kashyap Prajapati 38; Ali Dawood 1/23, Rizwan Butt 1/43, Abdul Majid 1/12) beat Bahrain 174/8 (Imran Ali 50, Haider Butt 47, Ahmer Bin Nasir 38*; Bilal Khan 2/19, Shakeel Ahmed 2/28, Fayyaz Butt 2/38, Aqib Ilyas 2/41).
Kuwait 178/8 (Clinto Anto 54; Ali Nasseri 3/26, Basil Hameed 3/32) lost to UAE 179/3 in 17.3 overs (Alishan Sharafu 90*, Asif Khan 74*; Shahrukh Quddus 2/49).
