UAE maintained their flawless record in the ILT20 Gulf Cricket Championship with a 11-run against Kuwait that went right down to the final over. Bahrain climbed to second spot in the standings following their commanding 8-wicket win over Saudi Arabia.
UAE and Bahrain are top of the six-team tournament with six and four points respectively. Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are all on two points with one win each. Qatar, meanwhile, are yet to post a win, losing both of their encounters. The top-two teams will go on to play in the final.
Tanish Suri and Muhammad Waseem top-scored for UAE at the top of the innings to stitch a 104-run stand for the opening wicket. None of the other batters, though, could get into double digits.
Sayed Monib Hashimi was the pick of the bowlers for Kuwait with figures of 3/33 while Mohamed Shafeeq Manakkadavath and Yasin Patel took two wickets each.
In reply, Kuwait saw runs from Meet Bhavsar (21) before Muhammad Umar slammed a 44-ball 59 and found support from Usman Patel (40 off 29 balls). B Bilal, too, chipped in with a rapidfire 16 from 9 balls.
From 5/2 at one point, Kuwait clawed their way back with 56 run and 63 run stands for the third and fourth wickets respectively.
Needing 16 runs from the last over for a surprise turnaround, Muhammad Jawadullah took three wickets to dampen those hopes. He struck with the first ball and the last two deliveries of his over. He and Junaid Siddique took three wickets each for UAE.
In the first match of the day, Bahrain had no trouble getting past Saudi Arabia. Batting first, the Saudis were stopped short on 113/9 as skipper Waji Ul Hassan scored a run-a-ball 35 runs. For Bahrain, Imran Khan (3/20), Muhammed Rizwan Butt (2/23) and Sarfaraz Ali (2/23) were the top bowling picks.
Bahrain captain Haider Ali led from the front in the case to remain unbeaten on 52 from 34 balls. He found support from Asif Ali at the other end who scored 45 not out from 47 balls. Together they put together an unbeaten 103 run stand to romp to victory with 28 balls to spare.
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