RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s national cricket team have beaten Thailand convincingly, defeating the host country by nine wickets in the 4th match of the 2023 ACC Men’s Challenger Cup played at the Asian Institute of Technology Ground, Bangkok on Monday.
“Saudi Arabia clinches a commanding 9-wicket victory over Thailand with over 34 overs to spare in the #ACCChallengerCup! An outstanding performance by the Saudi team places them in an advantageous position in the tournament. Congrats on the big win!” tweeted the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
Saudi Arabia won the toss and elected to field, offering the host country to bat first.
Batting first, the host country were bundled out poorly in 25.2 overs in the 50 overs match, scoring just 80 runs.
Chasing the low total, the Men in Green scored the winning run on the fourth ball of the 16th over with just one wicket down.
Waqar Ul-Hassan was the top scorer for the Saudi side scoring 34 on 35 balls hitting two fours and two over the fence. Saad Khan was second highest scorer with 27 on 35 balls, whereas Abdul Waheed-Baladraf was caught lbw, he scored 16 on 24 balls.
The only Saudi wicket was claimed by Thailand bowler Jandre Coetzee.
Zain Ul Abidin was best bowler from the Saudi side claiming three-wickets in 6.2 overs conceding just 18 runs in his impressive spell.
Atif-Ur-Rehman, Ishtiaq Ahmed, and Abdul Wahid took two-wickets each.
Only two Thailand players: Akshay Yadav (19) and Narawit Nuntarach (13) could cross the single digit score.
The tournament, which runs until March 5, is played in a round robin format with eight teams split into two groups of four. The top two from each group will progress to the semifinals in the knockout stages.
The 2023 ACC Men’s Challenger Cup is the inaugural edition of the Men’s Challenger Cup, with the matches to be played in List A Cricket (50 overs) format.
While Thailand being the hosts of the tournament, this challenger cup is part of the qualification pathway towards Asia Cup to be hosted by Pakistan in September 2023.
On Feb 9 this month, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced the schedule of the tournament with 8 teams taking part in it including the host Thailand and Bahrain, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Maldives, Iran and Myanmar.
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