Friday 26 / July / 2024
Muscat: Fine batting performances of opening batsman Zeeshan Maqsood and Adnan Ilyas and excellent bowling shows by Bilal Khan and Munis Ansari went in vain as Oman suffered defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in the ongoing Asia Cup qualifiers in Bangladesh on Saturday.
According to information received here, Oman after setting up a challenging total of 165 for four in 20 overs had the Afghans on the ropes but the experienced Dawlat Zadran blew away the Sultanate squad’s hopes of second successive victory with two mighty sixes off the final over bowled by left-arm spinner Ajay Lalcheta.
Thanks to Dawlat’s daring onslaught, Afghanistan achieved their target with three balls to spare scoring 168 for seven in 19.3 overs.
The Afghans are now back in contention for the lone berth available in the Asia Cup and to join the elite teams of the continent hosts Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan and Oman as well as the United Arab Emirates, who upset the Afghans on Friday, are now two points each though the latter had played a match less. The UAE are scheduled to play their second match against Hong Kong on Sunday.
The qualifying stage concludes on Monday when Afghanistan play Hong Kong and Oman take on the UAE.
Oman, who opened their qualifying campaign with a thrilling victory over Hong Kong on Friday, won the toss on Saturday and elected to bat first against Afghanistan.
The Sultanate squad, who are coached by Sri Lankan great Duleep Mendis, were given a good start by hard-hitting Zeeshan Maqsood (52) and his fellow opener Jatinder Singh (23). The two put on 72 runs.
Later Adnan Ilyas made a quick 54 while Aamir Kaleem (13) and Mehran Khan (12 not out) added valuable runs to take Oman’s total to 165 runs.
For Afghanistan, Gulbadin Naib claimed two wickets while Dawlat and Amir Hamza took one each.
Oman then pushed the Afghans on the back-foot as Bilal Khan struck early to have Mohammad Shahzad (4) caught in the deep by Adnan Ilays with just five runs on the board.
Noor Ali Zadran then steadied the ship with a quick-fire 63 and in the company of skipper Asghar Stanikzai (34) put on 54 in just 4.4 overs for the second wicket.
But pacer Mehran Khan brought Oman back into the game dismissing Stanikzai, Karim Sadiq and Mohammad Nabi in quick succession.
However, Najibullah Zadran scored 23 runs off 21 balls to help in the recovery. Still the Afghans were far from the victory as Bilal Khan claimed the wickts of Najibullah and Noor Ali in the 17th over.
With 21 required in last two overs, Samiullah Shenwari hit two successive fours to ease the pressure and then, with 10 needed off the final over, it was left for the coolheaded Dawlat complete the formalities with those massive sixes.
SCOREBOARD
OMAN
Zeeshan Maqsood st M. Shahzad b A. Hamza 52
Jatinder Singh c K. Sadiq b G. Naib 23
Adnan Ilyas c N. Zadran b G. Naib 54
Aamir Kaleem c R. Khan b D. Zadran 13
Mehran Khan (not out) 12
Amir Ali (not out) 1
Extras (lb-1, w-2, nb-7) 10
Total (4 wkts; 20 overs) 165
Fall of wickets: 1-72, 2-104, 3-143, 4-164.
Bowling: Dawlat Zadran 4-0-27-1 (nb-1, w-1); Karim Sadiq 2-0-18-0; Gulbadin Naib 4-0-24-2 (nb-1); Mohammad Nabi 4-0-30-0; Amir Hamza 2-0-29-1 (nb-1, w-1); Rashid Khan 4-0-36-0.
AFGHANISTAN
M. Shahzad c Adnan Ilyas b Bilal Khan 4
Noor Ali Zadran lbw Bilal Khan 63
A. Stanikzai c Bilal Khan b Mehran Khan 34
K. Sadiq c Adnan Ilyas b Mehran Khan 0
M. Nabi c Wategaonkar b Mehran Khan 11
Najibullah Zadran lbw Bilal Khan 23
Gulbadin Naib (not out) 4
S. Shenwari c Adnan Ilyas b Lalcheta 12
Dawlat Zadran (not out) 12
Extras (lb-2, w-3) 5
Total (7 wkts; 19.3 overs) 168
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-59, 3-60, 4-81, 5-140, 6-141, 7-156.
Bowling: Bilal Khan 4-0-33-3 (w-2); A. Lalcheta 3.3-0-43-1; Mehran Khan 4-0-18-3; Munis Ansari 4-0-40-0 (w-1); Aamir Kaleem 3-0-21-0; Amir Ali 1-0-11-0.
