Nepal will meet Malaysia in the semifinal of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup as Malaysia finished runners-up of Group A defeating Thailand by 175 runs at the IOE Ground.
Singapore qualified as the Group A winners defeating Saudi Arabia by 5 wickets at BSAM Ground while Hong Kong made into the last four with a 94-run win over Kuwait at the TU Ground.
At IOE, Malaysia elected to bat first and scored 247/9 and bowled out Thailand for 72 in 25.1 overs.
Malaysia rode on second consecutive match winning performance by Syahadat Ramli who scored 62 off 52 balls with eight fours to help the team accumulate a very good total.
Malaysian batsmen were on the flair with Razlan Zalath (36), Ahmad Jajudin (34), Amirul Hussain (27), Md Fetri Sham (25 off 12 balls) and Fadzrin Rosmanizam (15) getting runs. They also benefited from 32 extra runs.
For Thailand, Kushal Shah grabbed 3/30 while Siddharntham Vardhaman got 2/46.
In reply, Thailand were more focused on staying on than going for the victory. The openers batted for nine overs scoring 22 runs but the slow bowlers baffled them enough.
Nik Nabil (3/12), Sham (3/15) and Ramli (2/12) ensured that they win convincingly by bowling out Thailand for 71 runs in 25.1 overs. Only two Thai batsmen, Witsanukorn Taptimthaz (15) and Nikhom Puttakho (10) scored double-digit.
At BSAM, Saudi Arabia was bowled out for 118 in 33 overs. Singapore needed 23 overs and five wickets to win the match to finish undefeated in the league round.
Varun Sivaram and Abhiraj Singh each grabbed four wickets for Singapore as Saudi failed to post a defensible total. Salman Patel (26), Mohd Abdulla (23) and Salman Saleem (21) got some runs for them.
Mohit Kulkarni remained unbeaten on 39 off 53 balls with five fours to take Singapore to the victory along with Shivan Ahuja (17 not out off 15 balls). Ishaan Shekhar got 22.
Abdulla (2/26) and Faheem Afrad (2/25) were the picks fo the bowlers.
At TU, Hong Kong won the toss and scored 236/8 in 40 overs. Kinchit Shah scored 69 off 87 balls with seven fours and partnered Amandeep Singh for 59-run. Amandeep himself got 35 off 21 balls with three fours and two sixes.
Anshuman Rath (22), Miten Khatri (19) and Farqan Tahir (15) also contributed to the total.
Five of the Hong Kong batsmen were run-out while Avinash Mohan grabbed 2/32. Abdul Jabar took a wicket.
After Hong Kong’s innings, Kuwait needed to win in 19.3 overs to qualify to semifinals on better run-rate. They began making 84 in 10 overs and 109 in 12 overs.
Zakaria Ali played a knock of remember hitting 68 off just 59 balls with 10 fours and a six. He reached his half-century in 36 balls with eight fours and a six.
But there was not much support for him and his fall, to Hong Kong’s captain Miten Khatri, brought quick end of Kuwaiti’s innings. They could only manage 142 in 22.4 overs.
Ali Zaheer got 23 and Mohan 10 while no other batsmen reached double-digit. Miten finished at 4/19 while Amandeep (2/15) and Kinchit (2/29) contributed to help Hong Kong win.