On the second day of the ACC Twenty20 Cup, defending champions Afghanistan and UAE secured second victory of the tournament as Kuwait and Maldives also registered a win each.
Afghanistan beat Oman by 40 runs and UAE stunned hosts Nepal by 6 wickets at the TU Ground whereas Maldives thrashed Bhutan by 9 wickets and Kuwait got past Saudi Arabia by six wickets at the IOE Ground.
Afghanistan edges Oman
Afghanistan, who had defeated Malaysia earlier, pulled another victory as they edged past Oman by 40 runs.
Ajay Lalcheta took four wickets for Oman in the way of making it difficult for Afghanistan to bat. Afghanistan batted first and was all out for below-par 117 in 19.3 overs.
Afghanistan proved too strong for Oman. Photo by PhotoEverest.com
Mohammad Shahzad (24 off 23) and Shabir Noori (21 off 23) were the major contributors for Afghanistan.
Aamir Khaleem claimed three wickets for Oman.
Oman could not replicate bowling efforts during batting. Oman was all out for 77 in 19.4 overs.
Amir Ali (19 off 20) and Lalcheta (17 off 38) were the top scorers for Oman as none of the other batsmen reached in double-digit score.
Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi took two wickets each for Afghanistan.
Kuwait beats Saudi Arabia
Kuwait, who had lost to the UAE, defeated Saudi Arabia by six wickets to keep up hopes of qualifying to the semifinals.
Saudi Arabia, electing to bat first, was all-out for 96 runs in 19.2 overs. In reply, Kuwait met the target in 13.3 overs losing four wickets.
Saudi Batting. Photo by PhotoEverest.com
Rizwan Qayyum contributed unbeaten 29 runs off 32 balls to guide Saudi to the fighting total on the spinning wicket of Nepal. Mohammed Asghar took three wickets for Kuwait.
Chasing the total, Yasar Idrees scored 37 runs off 22 balls and Kuwait reached 97/4 in 13.3 overs. Khawar Sohail took two wickets for Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed Asghar, who also scored 13 runs after taking three wickets, was adjudged man-of-the-match.
Maldives outplays Bhutan
In a battle of minnows, Maldives thrashed Bhutan by nine wickets.
Maldives won the toss and elected to field, bundled out Bhutan for 77 in 18 overs and finally met the target in 12.1 overs losing just a wicket.
Tshering Dorji topscored Bhutan side with 13 runs off 21 balls while Moosa Kaleem took three wickets for the Maldives. Kaleem scored also unbeaten 48 runs to seal a comfortable victory. He was awarded man-of-the-match.