Kuwait beat Saudi by 5 runs in last-over thriller to seal their place in the main draw of Asia’s qualifier for World T20 Qualifier 2019. All round performance from Kuwait’s skipper Muhammad Kashif wrote the script of Kuwait’s happy ending of the fruitful tourney.
Kashif, Kuwait’s skipper, won the toss and asked Saudi to field first. They scored 104 runs losing all wickets in shortening 18 overs of inning. Kashif (26) and Asghar (15) were notable performer with the bat for Kuwait. Mohammad Afzal lead Saudi’s attack with 3 wickets in his bank. Khawar Abbas and Ibrarul Haq picked up 2 wickets each.
It wasn’t big task for Saudi by any mean for their awful batting and wonderful bowling from Kuwait knocked them out of top 3’s race. They suffered 5 runs defeat and failed to proceed to another level of qualification. Imran Arif determined batting also couldn’t saved them as rest of batters didn’t hung with him. He smashed 40 runs from 35 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. In the end, they just managed to add 99 runs losing 4 wickets in 18 overs. Arjun Makesh picked up maximum 2 wickets where Kashif and Nazeer hold on with a wicket each. Makesh was adjudged as player of the match for his 12 runs and 2 wickets.
With this victory, Kuwait joined UAE and Qatar to qualify for Asia qualifier of World T20 Qualifier. They will join top 3 teams from World T20 Asia QLF-B.
