Bangkok: Saudi Arabia won their second trophy in less than a week on Friday as they added the Thailand quadrangular series to the ACC Challenger Cup that they won on Sunday by beating Thailand by eight wickets in the final.
Saudi Arabia won the toss and elected to field first, even after compiling their highest ever total the day before when they amassed 221 for 3 against Bhutan. Thailand would have been pleased with the first over of their innings as Akshay Yadav hit three boundaries from an Ishtiaq Ahmad over that cost 14 runs.
The next over bowled by Atiq-ur-Rehman took a different course as he claimed two wickets in two balls. He had Chaloemwong Chatphaisan caught from his second ball for a duck as he tried to hit another four. Sorawut Desungnoen was then bowled first ball as he was beaten for pace and the leg-stump flew out of the ground.
Thailand did recover from the loss of two early wickets as Akshay Yadav was joined by Austin Lazarus and the pair added 30 runs together. They survived until the last ball of the powerplay when Usman Khalid removed Austin, stumped for 14.
Two balls into his next over, Khalid dismissed Akshay for 28 and Thailand were four wickets down. Robert Raina continued the attacking approach by hitting 17 from 7 balls but it could not last as Khalid claimed his third wicket after being hit for six the previous ball.
Thailand were 69 for six after 10 overs and did show some spirit in reaching 104 for 9 as they batted out their 20 overs. Khalid finished with 4 for 28 and Atif-ur-Rehman took 3 for 13. Zain-ul-Abedin, who took 5 for 6 in Thursday’s match for Saudi Arabia’s best T20I figures, had to be content to act in support by taking 1 for 14 with his left-arm spin.
Faisal Khan had been rested against Bhutan and Kashif Siddique had reached his 50 in just 20 balls, so both were prepared to get the job done when they walked out to open the innings.
Kashif again made a fast start to the innings as he hit 29 from 16 balls with 5 fours and a six before he was caught behind off the last ball of the powerplay with the total on 62 for 1. Abdul Waheed, who had started the tour by making 99 in the opening match of the ACC Challenger Cup against Cambodia, came in at number three and added 40 with Faisal Khan to take Saudi Arabia to the verge of victory.
Waheed was lbw to leg-spinner Khanitson Namchaikul but it was appropriate that it was Khan hitting the boundary that took Saudi Arabia through to victory by eight wickets in 11.2 overs.
Faisal Khan finished on 47 from 36 balls and he hit eight fours, and thoughts went back to Saudi Arabia’s first match of their tour when he was hit on the head in the first over and forced to retire. He returned to the crease after a few overs and came back even stronger later in the tour.
Saudi Arabia’s focus will now turn to 50-over cricket as they take part in an ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League Play-off in Malaysia. It is an eight-team tournament with Saudi Arabia playing group matches against Kuwait, Italy and Bermuda. They will be hoping to take their outstanding run of T20 form into 50-over cricket.
