UAE continued their unbeaten run at the ILT20 Gulf Cricket Championships with a win against Qatar on Wednesday but Oman were shocked by Saudi Arabia in the day’s early game at the ICC Academy in Dubai.
UAE remain top of the points table with four wins out of four to move to eight points while Qatar stay rooted to the bottom with four straight defeats. Saudi Arabia’s win made the second place a tough spot with four teams, including Oman, on four points but Kuwait hold the advantage based on their superior net run rate.
Batting first, UAE scored 162/6 in the 20 overs with captain Muhammad Waseem playing a skipper’s knock of 65 from 36 balls which included two fours and five sixes.
There was further support from Alishan Sharafu (22 from 17) and Asif Khan (41 from 39) with 47-run and 76-run stands for the second and third wicket respectively. Himanshu Rathod stood out for Qatar with figures of 3/27.
During their chase, Imal Liyanage (18), Mohammad Rizlan Iqbar (11), Mohammed Ahnaf (10) all got starts but were unable to make it count. It meant Muhammad Tanveer’s 47 from 36 balls went in vain even though Rathod chipped in with the bat further down the order (25 from 22).
Simranjeet Singh stood out for UAE with four wickets to his name, removing the bulk of the top order.
In the day’s first game, Saudi Arabia scaled the 166 run target with eight wickets and seven balls to spare.
Oman scored large chunk of their runs through their top-four batters with Jatinder Singh (17) and Ashish Rambhai Odedera (14) marking a decent start. Mohammad Nadeem took it up a notch with 60 from 49 balls, including four fours and a six. Wasim Ali slammed 38 from 22 balls to provide support as well with 62 runs coming for the third wicket.
In their chase, Usman Khalid scored 38 from 34 and Faisal Khan piled on 70 from 40 balls with seven fours and four sixes. Their 91 run stand all but took the game away from Oman’s reach. Abdul Waheed Abdul Ghaffar (19*) and Abdul Manan Ali (28*) got the job done with an unbeaten 39-run partnership.
ILT20 Gulf Cricket Championship Results:
Saudi Arabia beat Oman by 8 wickets
UAE beat Qatar by 23 runs
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