Bahrain thrash Singapore in World Cup qualifiers

MONG KOK: Bahrain thrashed Singapore in their Thursday Cricket World Cup Challenge League game, winning by eight wickets, and with 152 balls remaining. They are now placed fourth in Group B with a total of nine points, while Singapore is last with only one point from their abandoned game against Tanzania.

Sohail Ahmed was the standout bowler for Bahrain, taking four wickets between the 26th and 34th over, including Singapore skipper Manpreet Singh. Ahmed also dismissed Hari Kukreja, who made Singapore’s second largest contribution with 25 runs, via lbw. Bahrain’s Imran Khan also took three wickets, including opener Suryansh Gulecha who had the best knock for Singapore with 34 runs off 40 deliveries.

Abdul Majid also had one wicket, as he bowled Aman Desai in the 18th over. Singapore also lost both Aryaveer Chaudhary and Harsha Bharadwaj via run out.

Also read: Kyrie scores 42 to lead Mavericks over Warriors

Singapore seemed to be making things interesting early into Bahrain’s innings, as opener Shahbaz Badar was dismissed for a duck after he was caught behind on a deliver from Pranav Sudarshan in the second over. However, it wasn’t nearly enough to stop Bahrain as they marched forward in the face of their miniscule target. Harsha Bharadwaj got another wicket for Singapore in the 14th over, sending off Rishabh Ramesh, who scored 23 runs off 44 deliveries. However, by that point, Bahrain had already made 51 runs, and only needed 67 more.

Fiaz Ahmed scored a half century off 58 deliveries, hitting four fours and one six. Sohail Ahmed also had a great knock, to go along with his fantastic bowling performance, scoring 40 runs off 40 deliveries. He also hit one of his four sixes right after levelling the scores, bringing Bahrain to a total of 123.

Despite the win, Bahrain won’t be able to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff. Only the top two teams from both group a and group b can qualify. Bahrain are currently placed fourth with nine points. They have one match remaining, which if they win, will give them a total of 11, still placing them behind Honk Kong in third place who have 12.  

Also read: Tri-nation series: Rizwan, Salman Agha smash centuries against South Africa