BANGKOK: Saudi Arabia’s cricket team face one of their most important matches in recent times when they play Japan on Friday at the TCG in Bangkok in the first semifinal of the ACC T20 Challenger Cup.
The winners of both semifinals will play each other in the final on Sunday but will also be guaranteed places in the ACC Men’s Premier Cup to be held in Oman in April to join a line-up of the best associate teams in Asia.
The Premier Cup is effectively a qualifying competition for the next T20 Asia Cup to be held in 2025, so victory over Japan tomorrow will give Saudi Arabia the chance to compete against some of the best cricket teams in Asia and offers a pathway to the Asia Cup.
Saudi Arabia have enjoyed an outstanding Challenger Cup tournament so far as the only team to win all three group matches. They beat Cambodia by 88 runs, Bhutan by eight wickets and Indonesia by 82 runs to finish top of Group A on six points with an outstanding net run-rate of 4.282. Cambodia finished second in the group with two wins to give them four points.
Group B was a much tighter affair with Singapore, Japan and Thailand all finishing on four points divided only by the narrowest of margins in net run-rate. Japan were second just behind Singapore, which set up the meeting with Saudi Arabia.
The Greens’ openers have been excellent so far in the tournament with Abdul Waheed hitting 99 from 58 balls against Cambodia and Faisal Khan returning from a head injury to strike 77 from 60 balls against Indonesia.
Manan Ali and Haseeb Ghafoor shared an opening stand of 77 against Bhutan but Waheed and Khan are the first-choice openers.
In the middle-order the Saudis have a range of options with Waqar Ul-Hassan and Waji Ul-Hassan also able to hit the ball alongside Manan Ali and Hasseb Ghafoor in a strong batting line up.
The seam bowlers have also been impressive with Ishtiaq Ahmad and Atif Ur-Rehman joined by the pacy Usman Najeeb who took 3 for 24 against Cambodia and Shahzaib who made his debut against Indonesia.
Left-arm spinner Usman Khalid was player of the match against Bhutan with figures of 4 for 6 and Imran Yousaf impressed with his leg-spin when coming into the team as a concussion substitute for Khan in the opening match. Hisham Shaikh completes the line-up as a captain who is capable with both bat and ball.
Japan should not be taken lightly as they were excellent in the victory over Thailand, with captain Kendel Fleming a fine batsman who hit 74 against the hosts. Opening bowler Reo Sakurano returned the best figures of the tournament with 6 for 26.
Japan just failed in their chase against Singapore to keep their run-rate above their rivals but they knew exactly what the target was and deserved to finish second above Thailand. They have an array of spin bowlers and certainly make the most of their talents.
Japan got close to winning a place in the next T20 World Cup to be played in the West Indies and US later this year, so will be very capable opponents for Saudi Arabia, but the Greens’ strength in depth gives them a good chance to win the semifinal to move on to the Premier Cup.
Singapore face Cambodia in the second semifinal which starts later on Friday.
It has been announced that Saudi Arabia will stay in Bangkok to play a Quadrangular T20 Series against Thailand, the Maldives and Bhutan immediately after the Challenger Cup concludes from Feb. 12-16.
