Hong Kong’s sluggish bid to qualify for next year’s T20 World Cup came to a screeching halt in Nepal on Thursday.
They needed to beat the United Arab Emirates in their final Group B match to have a chance of progressing to the semi-finals, but Nizakat Khan’s side once again fell short, losing by 22 points.
Chasing 177 for victory, the second wicket stand between Khan (25) and Anshi Rana (59) gave the team a solid foundation at 58, but Babar Hayat once again failed with the bat. , wickets fell too often for Hong Kong to sustain. A kind of momentum.
Hong Kong finished with 154 for eight, but Yassim Murtaza was out for eight on the last ball of the innings.
That aside, Murtaza was one of the bright spots in an otherwise disappointing performance in Hong Kong that once again raised doubts about the team’s bowling and batting.
The slow left-arm spinner took three wickets for 14 runs in four overs, including trapping UAE captain Mohammad Waseem leg-before for 46 runs, and thrashed Hong Kong’s attack with 61 runs in the opening stages. The onslaught of 6 overs came to an end.
Murtaza also picked up the wickets of Khalid Shah for six and Asif Khan for four, with Ehsan Khan bowling Vritya Aravind for 19 as the UAE slipped to 89 for four.
Unfortunately for the team, Ehsan Khan’s only success came at the cost of 41 runs, and his teammates were equally expensive, with Basil Hameed (51 runs) and Alishan Sharaf (34 Score) scored 76 runs for the fifth wicket.
Hameed’s half-century came in just 29 balls, including three sixes, and as the UAE scored 176 for six, Hong Kong had more than they expected when he fell for the last wicket. Chasing a much bigger score.
Hong Kong, on the other hand, lost Martin Coetzee in two overs, but Nizakat Khan and Ras continued to chase and even with the former dropping a score of 67 in 10 overs, there was still work to be done.
Hong Kong needs to turn ‘unacceptable’ into ‘ruthless’ to save T20 World Cup dreams
Hong Kong needs to turn ‘unacceptable’ into ‘ruthless’ to save T20 World Cup dreams
However, Hayat hit four balls three balls behind and although Aizaz Khan’s 26 balls added some excitement to the mid-order, the lack of support meant the team were consistently behind the required run rate. .
With the victory, the UAE will take first place in Group B and will face Nepal, who finished second in Group A, in the semi-finals. Bahrain, who defeated Hong Kong on Tuesday, will face Oman despite losing to Kuwait in their final group match. The two finalists will qualify for his T20 World Cup next year.