Nepal has qualified for the semi-final of the ACC T20, as UAE failed to win their final league match by the required margin. Having put into bat UAE put up 168, and needed to contain Saudi Arabia within 98 runs to post a net run rate better than Nepal, which would have eliminated the host team from the tournament.
UAE posted 168, thanks largely to Vikrant Shetty, who came in at 6 and thrashed the Saudi bowlers all around the park, pushing UAE to a huge total. At one point of time, UAE was 7 down for 105.
Chasing a difficult target, Saudi Arabia started losing wickets right from beginning and the trend continued throughout, except that Hammad Saeed proved to be UAE nemesis and Nepali crowd’s darling of the day.
Saeed posted 63 – off 38 deliveries – with 6 sixes, and was out right after eliminating UAE from the tournament. He was the ninth man to fall down, with score at 101. And after that, despite the win, the score did not matter for UAE.
UAE also missed out on the opportunity to play for ICC World Twenty20 Global Qualifier. Hong Kong, Nepal and Oman have qualified from Asian region for the Global Qualifiers. Afghanistan automatically qualifies for the championship