Asia Cup 2018 qualifiers: Day 4 Round up
On the fourth day of Asia Cup 2018 qualifiers, the match between Hong Kong and Oman ended in a no result while UAE crushed Malaysia and Nepal defeated Singapore in a low scoring match.
In the first match of the day, Oman took on Hong Kong at Kinara Academy Oval, Bandar Kinara. Hong Kong captain Anushman Rath won the toss and decided to field first. It was a great bowling effort by the Hong Kong bowlers to bowl out Oman for just 183 runs in 50 overs.
Mohammad Nadeem was the top scorer for Oman with 54 and Fayyaz Butt made 50. For Hong Kong, Ehsan Nawaz broke the backbone of Oman batting line up with 4 wickets for 39 runs.
Chasing the target of 184 to win, Hong Kong openers got off to a decent start with 25 runs on the board in 5 overs before rain arrived. The match did not restart and there was no result.
In the 2nd match of the day, United Arab Emirates came back to winning ways by crushing Malaysia with a resounding 8 wicket win. Malaysia captain Ahmed Faiz won the toss and decided to bat first. The UAE bowlers did not allow Malaysian batsmen to score runs easily. S Muniandy was the top scorer for Malaysia with 16 runs.
UAE bowled out Malaysia for just 92 runs in 31.3 overs. For UAE, Ahmed Raza picked 4 for 28 while Mohammad Naveed, Rohan Mustafa and Amir Hayat took 2 wickets each.
Chasing the paltry total of 93 runs to win, despite losing 2 wickets, UAE captain Rohan Mustafa 38 not out and Rameez Shahzad 26 not out helped UAE chased down the target with ease winning it by 8 wickets with 251 balls to spare.
In the last match of the day, Nepal registered their 2nd win of the tournament with a hard fought win over Singapore. Singapore captain Suryawanshi won the toss and decided to bat first. Apart from Suryawanshi (60), AE Paaram (31) and Subramanian (20), Nepal bowlers made light work of other batsmen and bowled out Singapore for just 151 in 42 overs. For Nepal, Sandeep Lamichhane and Rajbanshi took 3 wickets each.
Chasing the target of 152 to win, Nepal openers AK Sah and Khakurel added 56 runs for the opening wicket. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, Nepal chased down the target with 131 balls to spare and 4 wickets remaining. For Singapore, A Krishna and S Vijayakumar picked 2 wickets each.
The final round of matches will see Malaysia taking on Singapore, United Arab Emirates taking on Oman and Nepal taking on Hong Kong to be played on 4th September.
Oman is still at top of points table with 7 points, followed by United Arab Emirates with 6 points. Hong Kong is placed at 5 points. Nepal is placed at 4th place with 4 points.