CRICKET – A SPARKLING, unbeaten 73 by Sohail Ahmed and career-best figures of four for 40 by Sachin Kumar led Bahrain to a 56-run win over Vanuatu in their fourth league match of the Malaysia Open T20 Championship at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday.
Bahrain’s fourth consecutive victory in the tournament meant that they topped the five-team table with eight points. They will play hosts Malaysia, who finished second with six points, in the final today.
Batting first after captain Haider Butt won the toss, Bahrain recovered from the loss of Imran Anwar for nought in the first over with opener Umer Toor and Ahmed launching a counter-attack as they put on 49 runs for the second wicket off just 27 balls.
Toor fell for 26 in the sixth over with Bahrain 50 for two and Butt, in at four, followed ten runs later with the Reds in some strife at 60 for three in the eighth over.
Ahmer bin Nasir joined man-of-the-match Ahmed, who was well-set by now, and the two flayed the Vanuatu bowlers in a 99-run stand for the fourth wicket before Nasir was dismissed for 51 off 41 balls off the last delivery of the 19th over.
Bahrain were now 159 for four and new man Sathaiya Veerapathiran added seven runs off the last six balls of the innings with Ahmed, who peppered two fours and five sixes in his 51-ball knock.
Needing 167 to win off their 20 overs, Vanuatu were put under early pressure by a double-strike by medium-pacer Veerapathiran in his first over, leaving them reeling at 7 for two after two overs.
Vanuatu captain Joshua Rasu (24), who had opened the innings, helped stabilise the innings through a 40-run, third-wicket partnership with Nalin Nipiko (18) off 6.5 overs.
But the introduction of Kumar, bowling tidy off-breaks, sparked a collapse as Vanuatu slid to 77 for seven in the 14th over with the off-spinner picking up four of the five wickets to fall.
The writing was now on the wall for Vanuatu. The tail-enders managed to scramble another 33 runs before medium-pacer Ali Dawood wrapped up the innings, picking up the last three wickets as Vanuatu were bowled out for 110 in the 19th over.
Brief scores: Bahrain 166 for 4 off 20 overs (Sohail Ahmed 73 not out, Ahmer bin Nasir 51, Patrick Matautaava 1/10) beat Vanuatu 110 all out off 18.4 overs (Joshua Rasu 24, Sachin Kumar 4/40, Ali Dawood 3/15)
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