Qatar’s Zaheer Ibrahim with the man of the match award.
Qatar has qualified for the next round of the ICC World Twenty20 Asia Qualifier ‘A’. Yesterday, Qatar registered a comfortable five-wicket win over Bahrain at the Asia Sub-Regional Qualifier tournament in Kuwait City.
Top three finishers will advance to the Asian regional final where they are to clash with three other qualifiers for two qualifying spots. UAE had already made it to next round, having finished as the group toppers.
Today, Qatar will take on the UAE in the final for the group champion honours. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will clash for the third place, the winners of which will join Qatar and UAE in the next round of qualifying tournament.
At the Sulaibiya Cricket Ground, Bahrain asked to set target by Qatar, could only manage 112 for eight in the allotted 20 overs.
A 33-run partnership for the sixth wicket by Imran Anwar (20 with two fours) and Yasser Nazir (18 with a four), was the main feature of the Bahrain innings that saw a late collapse masterminded by Awais Malik.
In the 19th over, Malik snared three wickets to restrict the rivals. He first ended Anwar’s 16-ball knock, getting him caught by Khurram Shahzad. Off the fourth ball, he bowled Nazir and finished his over with a scalp of Zeeshan Abbas (0).
In a late blast, Bilal Mansoor hammered three sixes off Iqbal Hussain to get 20 not out off just five balls. Tamoor Sajjad, who picked up first two wickets, had an impressive two for 9 figures in his four overs. Qatar, despite suffering two quick blows during their chase, reached the target with 20 balls to spare. Zaheer Ibrahim smashed a six and five fours in his unbeaten 43 off 37 balls to lay the foundation for victory.
Ibrahim and Shahzad (10 off 20 balls) added 34 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket, lifting Qatar to the fourth successive victory. This was Qatar’s fourth win in a row, having only lost to UAE in the group stage.
Brief scores
Bahrain 112 for eight in 20 overs (Fiaz Ahmed 11, Mohamed Sameer 18, P Kurup 15, Yasser Nazir 18, Imran Anwar 20, Bilal Mansoor not out 20; Tamoor Sajjad 2-9, Awais Malik 3-23) lost to Qatar 115 for five in 16.4 overs (Inam-ul-Haq 16, Kamran Khan 16, Zaheer Ibrahim not out 43; Khurram Shahzad not out 10) by five wickets
