Host Kuwait almost upset the applecart as they lost spiritedly to tournament favorites UAE in the opening match of the first ever ACC T20 tournament being played at Ahmadi & KEC grounds at Doha. Kuwait did everything except winning the match as they lost narrowly by 3 runs in the final over of the match.
Winning the toss, UAE skipper elected to bat first and Kuwait made early inroads by removing both UAE openers cheaply. Arshad Ali was bowled by Mohammed Ali and Khalid Butt had Amjad Javed caught by Nadeem Mallik at third man. One drop Saqib Ali and Prashanth Braggs then put their heads down and played sensible cricket with immense maturity and once they read the behaviour of the pitch then they showed their real class. Prashanth was severe on anything pitched up to him and smacked the Kuwaiti spinners for huge sixes all over the Unity ground. Prashanth’s 64 runs contained 6 sixes & 4 fours while Saqib Ali on the other hand played a captain’s knock of 78 runs with 3 sixes & 7 fours. At the end of 20 overs, UAE scored 178 runs for the loss of 4 wickets.
After the early departure of Nadeem Mallik, Kuwait recovered through Khalid Butt & Saud Iqbal and once Khalid got set, he went on the rampage by thumping anything short and hitting the ball on the rise to the ones pitched up to him. His quick fire 53 of just 21 balls paved way for Kuwait’s run chase and then it was skipper Yaseen Mughal & Mohammed Ali who steadied the Kuwait innings. Yassen scored 25 runs & Mohammed Ali made 17 runs. Wickets fell at regular intervals but it was the young wicket keeper Hamza Arif fought back as he clubbed 23 runs of just 9 balls and Kuwait needed just 10 runs in the last over but managed only 6 runs. Saqib Ali of UAE was rightly declared man 0f the match for his 78 runs and capturing 2 wickets for 36 runs.[Full Scorecard]
