U19 World Cup Division 2-Asia Qualifiers: Dhiman beats Oman over Bhutan, Bahrain beat Saudi Arabia

Al Amrat (Oman), 29 September: Oman captain Arjun Dhiman’s overall performance, including a career best 6 out of 18, helped the hosts beat Bhutan by 201 points, while Bahrain beat them. Saudi Arabia by 57 points. Thursday, the opening day of the 2-Asia qualifiers of the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup at the Oman Cricket Academy (OCA).

The first day of action saw two games in Group A and it was the hosts captain Dhiman who stole the show. After the draw was called correctly, Oman’s hopes for a good start on OCA 1 field were dashed by the Bhutanese bowlers.

Oman opening half – Devansh Loya and Lakshmi Satish – soon returned to the pavilion and when Aditya Gurmukhi searched for a duck he became Regisar Namgyal’s second victim, with the hosts in a precarious position at 26/3 in the ninth plus.

Captain Dhiman launched into the rescue work and shared a fourth 64-run Wicket partnership with Aryan Bisht. Dhiman scored 47 points out of 39 balls in the 20th, including six on all fours.

Bisht continued to score slowly and dropped anchor. Along with Tanuj Shivakumar, the pair shared the highest inning partnership with a 73-run stand. However, both were fired for 163 as Anand Mongar made deliveries after the 33rd.

Bisht, who became the game’s top scorer with 60 points, faced 77 balls and only scored six in the game. Oman’s lower-order hitters with easy contributions in the form of Siddha Mehta (23), Glenn Menezes (30 not out) and Rahil Habibullah (23) led the team to 255/9 in 50 overs.

Karma Dorji (3-47) was Bhutan’s most successful pitcher while Mongar and Namgyal won two wickets each.

Pursuing a tough total, the Bhutan hitter got trapped in Dhiman’s web, which ended in numbers 6.5-2-18-6 thanks to a batting rival. Another off-spinner Shivakumar provided good support for Dhiman by claiming 3-18, while point guard Mohammad Arafat Islam took the second wicket when Bhutan was eliminated 54 in 21st.

Apart from Tashi Dorjee, who scored 22 points out of 31 balls, none of the batters managed to hit double figures. Five batters failed to even open the account.

Bahrain U19 against Saudi Arabia

Aryan Pandey’s 47-point shot and Mohammad Ali’s brilliant 3-11 led Bahrain to a 57-point win over Saudi Arabia in a Group A match at OCA 2 on Thursday.

Fighting first, the Bahraini team dropped to 159 points in 37.1 overs. Saudi bowlers justified their captain’s decision to go first and Bahrain hitters faced all sorts of problems in opening overs.

Bahrain captain Aryan Ashwin was the first to go in sixth place and a procession followed as Bahrain fought for 57/4 in 13th. Opening half Anantha Krishnan Natesan (30) held an inning as his teammates paced back and forth as Saswath Prasad and Varun Mudaliar struck together.

Natesan’s expulsion saw Bahrain slide to 78/6 in the early 20th, but Pandey made a crucial 45-point stamina with Muhammad Ali (16) beating Bahrain by 159 to give his team the fight count. Pandey’s inning went to 58 balls. That included a four and a six.

Zuhair and Mudaliar took three wickets each while Prasad took two wickets.

Saudi Arabia lost two wickets at the start of the second over and scored 13/3 in the seventh over. The 45-run partnership with Mohammad Sunasara (54) and Zuhair (25) was the only time Saudi Arabia expected a fight. But once the grandstand was broken, the other batters vanished as Saudi Arabia was eliminated 102 in 30.5 overs.

Mohammad Ali’s debut was one of the bowlers to take three wickets in his seven overs, including a maiden. Wazir Ahmed, Nadith Tenakoon and Shashank Shukla each took two wickets.

Oman will face Saudi Arabia on Saturday while Bahrain will face Bhutan. On Friday, Group B matches with Qatar will be played at OCA1 and with Hong Kong in neighboring Thailand.

Short scores:

The Under 19 of Oman (255/9 in 50 overs) beat the Under 19 of Bhutan (54 in 20.5 overs) by 201 runs

The Bahrain Under 19 team (159 in 37.1 overs) beat the Saudi Arabian Under 19 team (102 in 30.5 overs) by 57 points

-IANS

Avon / BSK

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