Oman and UAE register wins of GCC Women’s T20i Cup

Muscat: Oman beat Kuwait by 47 runs in Game 10 of the GCC Women’s T20i Championship Cup at the Oman Cricket Academy on March 24, 2022.

Put to bat first after losing the toss, Oman’s opening pair of Sakshi Vijaya Shetty and Fiza Javed made hay under the Amerat sun.

They forged a dominant 95-run partnership in 88 balls to put the hosts in command. Fiza was dismissed for a well-made 30 but Sakshi carried on, making her way to an unbeaten 71 runs off just 60 balls.

 Post-match, she collected the Player of the Match award for her efforts. Nayan Anil chipped in with 12 runs at the death and Oman finished on 128/4 after 20 overs.

 The second innings saw Kuwait fall well short. They were cleaned out for 81 with 17 balls to spare, thanks to Amanda Dcosta’s heroics with the ball. She single-handedly accounted for the demise of Kuwait’s entire middle and lower order, ending the day with figures of 5/11 in just 3 overs.

Saya Channa, Bhakti Shetty, Snehal Nair and Priyanka Mendonca picked up 1 wicket apiece. With 18 runs, Khadija Khalil top-scored for the visitors. Skipper Amna Sharif and Siobhan Gomez were the others to reach double figures.

Thanks to stellar individual performances with the bat and ball as well as a committed collective effort on the field, Oman managed to bounce back after a chastening 109-run defeat against the UAE. They currently hold second spot in the table. With 2 wins from 4, Kuwait is one place below them. In the other game of the day, the UAE steamrolled Saudi Arabia. Asked to bat first, a Saudi Arabia side playing their first ever T20i series, were bundled out for 25 runs in 12.3 overs. Lavanya Keny and Suraksha Kotte of the UAE finished with aesthetically pleasing figures of 3/3 and 2/2 respectively. In the second innings, the UAE openers finished the job without fuss. They took their side over the line with 18.1 overs in the bank.

Brief Scores: Oman 128/4 in 20 overs (Sakshi Vijaya Shetty 71(60) 6 x 4, 2 x 6 Fiza Javed 30(47) 2 x 4 ; Maria Jasvi 18/2 Khadija Khalil 17/2) beat Kuwait 81/10 in 17.1 overs (Khadija Khalil 18(34) 1 x 4 ; Amanda Dcosta 11/5) by 47 runs Saudi Arabia 25/10 in 12.3 overs (Cheryl Sewsunker 6(23) 1 x 4 ; Lavanya Keny 3/3 Suraksha Kotte 2/2) lost to Kuwait 26/0 in 1.5 overs (Lavanya Keny 12(7) 2 x 4) by 10 wickets