Qatar registered their second straight victory in the ICC World Cricket League Asia Region Division One, crushing Bhutan by a huge margin of 214 runs at Gymkhana Club in Chiang Mai, Thailand, yesterday.
Qatar had opened their campaign in the tournament with a 150-run win against Kuwait on Saturday, courtesy captain Iman-ul-Haq’s all-round performance that saw him score a sedate 62 in the team’s total of 295, before scalping two wickets, helping to wrap the opponents for 145.
Yesterday, after put in to bat, Qatar had a much slower start with opener Qalandar Khan (8 runs off 15, 2 fours) sent back with the scoreboard at 24.
For eight overs, wicketkeeper batsman Mohamed Rizlan and the captain held fort before Damber Gurung sending back both the batsman in his two successive overs. Rizlan had hit three fours in his 29-ball 20, while Haq had a 58-ball 37 (5 fours) to his name before Gurung cleaned him up with his medium pace.
Mohamed Tanveer (7 runs off 15 balls) was the next to go, being adjudged leg before wicket (lbw) off medium pacer Suprit Pradhan.
Tamoor Sajjad and Zaheer Ibrahim then stitched together a 103-run fifth-wicket partnership to take Qatar past the 200-run mark.
Ibrahim, who had scored an unbeaten 57 in the opening match against Kuwait, narrowly missed out on a half-century with a Pradhan delivery making its way to the stumps in the 43rd over. Ibrahim’s 49-run knock was punctuated by two fours and four sixes.
An over later, Sajjad’s 76-run knock was halted by legbreak bowler Jigme Singye, who had the 25-year-old caught by teammate Tenzin Wangchuk. Sajjad’s 84-ball knock included nine hits to the ropes and one beyond.
With Pradhan and Kumar Subba accounting for Kamran Khan (7) and Mohamed Awais (3) respectively, Qatar were at 236 for eight in the 28th over.
However, Khurram Shahzad (28 runs off 16 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) and Dharmang Patel (26 runs off 9 balls, 1 four, 3 sixes) got together for a blitz that saw the duo score 44 runs in the remaining 16 balls, to set Bhutan a target of 281 runs.
For Bhutan, Pradhan returned with the figures of 3 wickets for 54, while Damber Gurung scalped two for 56.
In reply, Bhutan never got going, with Awais sending back both the openers, captain Jingme Singye (1) and Subba (8), with just 14 on the board. 
Ibrahim was in the thick of things, taking a catch to send back Pradhan (2) off Tanveer’s bowling, before running wicketkeeper batsman Kencho Norbu (1). Later in the Bhutan innings, he even had Damber Gurung (10) out leg before and bowled Tobden Singye for a duck.
Qatar’s Mohamed Nadeem sent back Sonam Tobgay (7), Kishen Ghalley (1) and last man in Bushan Gurung (3) for his figures of 3 for 17.
Sajjad sent back Tenzin Wangchuk Jr in the 16th over. Wangchuk Jr was one of only three Bhutan batsman to get into double figures, the other being Damber Gurung and Tenzin Wanghuk (14 not out) Sajjad’s performance with the bat and ball, besides the catch that helped send back Ghalley, earned him the Player of the Match award.
In the other matches of the day, China lost big for the second straight game, with Kuwait posting a 293-run victory through Duckworth-Lewis method, and hosts Thailand suffering their first loss of the tournament after Bahrain beat them by 138 runs.
After a day’s break today, Qatar return to action against Thailand tomorrow.
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