The usual suspects along with an unusual one are making all the major headwinds at the halfway stage through the ICC World T20 Asia “B” qualifiers in Malaysia. Thanks to the washed-out game on the 2nd day of the event, Thailand are currently leading the points table after playing 3 matches. Coming in hot on their heels are Singapore and Nepal, who are unbeaten in their 2 matches so far.
Host’s Malaysia will be definitely ruing their fortunes as their washed out game against Thailand and a 8-wicket loss to Nepal has kept them at a solitary win in their first 3 matches. But they do have couple of relatively comfortable matches coming up against China and Myanmar and a tricky one against their neighbours and arch-rivals, Singapore.
Thailand haven’t faced Singapore and Nepal yet, and their chances of finishing in the top 2 or be in the running for the 3rd place play-off will largely depend on the outcomes from these two matches.
Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane became the first player in the 7-nation tournament to claim five wickets in a match as he bagged the five-for against Malaysia. Malaysia, although winners against Bhutan, were at the receiving end of a hat-trick by Bhutan’s Sanjeevan Raj Gurung.
The next round of matches will provide China or Myanmar to register their first win of the tournament while neighbours Singapore and Malaysia will renew their rivalry, while Thailand will try to put up a good show against Nepal.
ICC World T20 Asia “B” Qualifiers Points Table:
| Team | Match | Win | Loss | N/R | NRR | Points |
| Thailand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4.436 | 5 |
| Singapore | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8.45 | 4 |
| Nepal | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.137 | 4 |
| Malaysia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.595 | 3 |
| Bhutan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -0.343 | 2 |
| Myanmar | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -7.816 | 0 |
| China | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -10.789 | 0 |
