Singapore and Malaysia get off to winning starts
Five teams – Malaysia, Nepal, Qatar, Kuwait and hosts Singapore – are battling it out for a solitary slot for the next round of qualifiers on route to the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in 2020. It’s a winner-takes-all tournament with great significance for all participants.
Match 1 (Singapore Vs Qatar)
Singapore won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that would assist spin as the game progressed, but with a complimentary lightning quick outfield that would give real value for shots.
Openers R Rohan and Surendran Chandramohan got the innings off to a steady and reassuring start, posting an opening stand of 44 within the Powerplay overs before Rohan was removed by Tamoor Sajjad with a clever piece of bowling resulting in a catch to Kamran Khan.
The game was even at this point with Qatar's spinners threatening to take control on the back of an excellent first spell by off-spinner Inam-ul-Haq, who bowled with great control and variety.
Timothy David joined Chandramohan at this point and put together yet another valuable partnership of 61 runs, and in the process, got the momentum going for the Singapore innings. David ensured he batted on and built a platform from which Singapore could launch to a score they would be comfortable defending and beyond what was par for the course.
Manpreet Singh played an impressive cameo, scoring 34 off 18, and together with Anish Paraam finished off the Singapore innings in style as the hosts reached 186/7 in their 20 overs.
For Qatar, Iqbal Hussain bowled with great guile and variation to return figures of 4/33 in his spell of four overs, and ensured Qatar pegged Singapore back below a score of 200.
The Qatar chase did not get off to the best of starts with Janak Prakash from Singapore removing the dangerous Inam in the second over for just 11.
Khan then joined Faisal Javed for a threatening partnership of 32 before Selladore Vijyakumar removed Javed as a spell of accurate off-spin created pressure and drew a false stroke.
The match was shifting in favour from one side to the other with neither side wanting to let up control, making for some very interesting T20 viewing.
Qatar were very much in with a chance with three of their key batters Muhammad Tanveer, Sajjad the captain and Mohammed Rizlan all getting starts.
Sajjad batted expertly taking calculated risks and kept Qatar in the game till the 16th over before he was cleaned up by a delivery from Chetan Suryawanshi.
That was the point at which the tide of the game really shifted in Singapore’s favour and Amjad Mahboob took the opportunity to bring himself back on and take two quick wickets, firmly restoring control of the game in Singapore’s favour.
In the final reading, the Singapore bowlers managed to restrict Qatar to 153/9, winning by 33 runs to take the curtain raiser of the tournament.
Singapore next play Kuwait tomorrow, and Qatar take on Nepal.
Match 2 : Malaysia Vs Kuwait
Malaysia won the toss and elected to bat. The Malaysian openers Virandeep Singh and Anwar Arudin got off to a steady start but were quickly separated due to a stunning bit of fielding by Bilal Thahir who threw down the stumps from a direct hit to find Verandeep short of his ground.
Syed Aziz joined Arudin and took to lifting the Kuwait bowling attack often out of the park, with Aziz, in particular, being clinical in finding the boundary, scoring 34 off 18 balls.
Malaysia were at one point looking to score in excess of 180 but were pulled back by the Kuwait bowlers.
Four of the Malaysian batters including Ahmed Faiz, Aziz, Aminuddin Ramly and Shafiq Sharif all got starts but were not able to kick on and put a total that would make Malaysia feel totally comfortable. Malaysia managed to get to 162 all out in their 20 overs thanks to a brilliant cameo by Ramly, who scored a stroke-filled 33 from 12 balls, including four massive sixes at a rapid pace.
The Kuwait reply got off to the worst possible start with Ravija Sandaruwan being removed in the first over by Syed Aziz.
Malaysia went straight to their spinners thereafter with Pavandeep Singh in particular bowling tight lines and creating pressure.
Only the Kuwait captain Muhammad Kashif showed application and determination to score a quality half-century from 46 balls, all whilst wickets kept tumbling around him due to poor shot selection and some very penetrative spin bowling by Malaysia that showed great variety.
Both Malaysia and Kuwait had their moments to forget in the field, but Malaysia managed to hang on to the important catches and their misses did not cost much.
Malaysian spinners share seven of the 10 wickets to fall and ensured that they won their first encounter of the tournament by a commanding margin of 42 runs.
Aziz backed up his batting performance with 2/33 from three overs to be named Player of the Match.
Malaysia have a well-earned rest day tomorrow while Kuwait will be taking on hosts Singapore.
For results, live scores and information on the ICC World Twenty20 Asia Finals please go to: