Bulgarian Cricket Federation will be hosting it’s maiden home T20I bi-lateral series, as it host’s men’s national squad from Malta in a 4-match series, to be played at The Vassil Levski National Sports Academy in Sofia.
The four T20I matches will be played across two days on 23rd and 24th September 2020. The morning game will start at 10am local time on both the days and the afternoon game will start at 2:30pm local time. Bulgaria, ranked 52nd in the ICC T20I team rankings, made their debut during the 2019 Hellenic Premier League in Greece, where they played against the host’s and Serbia, and won the Tri-nation series after defeating Greece in the final.
Malta, ranked 85th in the ICC rankings, were denied the opportunity to play in the 2020 6-nation Central European Cup in Czech Republic, due to increasing numbers of infections due to COVID-19 pandemic in Prague. Malta made their debut in T20I format during the 2019 Valletta Cup at home, where they hosted Czech Republic in T20I games during the 4-nation quadrangular, also involving Hungary and Iceland.
Bulgaria Squad
Prakash Mishra (Captain), Hristo Lakov, Boiko Ivanov, Sulaiman Ali, Kevin Chris D’souza, Bakhtiar Tahiri, Ishan Aravinda de Silva, Delrick Vinu Varghese, Ivailo Katzarski, Rohan Bhavesh Patel, Hristo Ivanov, Kiran Disan, Atagul Ahmedhel and Fayaz Mohammad
Kiran Dasan, Hristo Lakov and Prakash Mishra were the mainstays for the Bulgarian campaign during their Hellenic Premier League stint in Greece. Most of the players announced in the national squad are the top performers for their respective clubs during the recently held European Cricket Series (ECS) T10 tournament held in Sofia by European Cricket Network (ECN). Bakhtiar Tahiri emerged as a stand-out all-round performer during the T10 competition, scoring heavily with the bat and picking up crucial wickets for his club, Indo-Bulgarian CC.
Malta Squad
Sam Aquilina (Captain), Amar Sharma, Samuel Sanish, Varun Prasath, Gopal Chaturvedi, Michael Goonetilleke, Ravinder Singh, Salu Kanakali Thomas, Haroon Mughal, Zeeshan Khan, Washeem Abbas, Sujesh Appu, Heinrich Gericke and Noshair Akhter
Malta national squad members were part of the recently concluded T20 summer league competition, organized by Malta Cricket Association (MCA). Samuel Sanish, Varun Prasath, Zeeshan Khan, Haroon Mughal and Heinricj Gericke will be expected to lead the batting department for the Maltese team, as they have been the top performers for their respective clubs back home in the domestic T20 competition in 2020. Amar Sharma and Salu Thomas will be looking to carry their wicket-taking form to Bulgaria and provide Malta with the breakthroughs in the T20I games.
Brief Scores (T20I Matches)
Malta 216/8 in 20 overs (Ravinder Singh 34, Haroon Mughal 33, Samuel Sanish 26, Heinrich Gericke 23, Waseem Abbas 20 n.o, Amar Sharma 20, Sulaiman Ali 2/27, Prakash Mishra 2/28, Bakhtiar Tahiri 2/38, Delrick Varghese 1/31) beat Bulgaria 159/8 in 20 overs (Kiran Dasan 31, Boiko Ivanov 21 n.o, Sulaiman Ali 16, Ishan De Silva 16, Salu Thomas 4/31, Amar Sharma 3/23, Noshair Akhter 1/25) by 57 runs (Scorecard)
Bulgaria 184/6 in 20 overs (Kiran Dasan 47, Ishan De Silva 42, Bakhtiar Tahiri 29, Kevin D’souza 22 n.o, Nosair Akhter 3/35, Waseem Abbas 1/27, Varun Prasath 1/37) lost to Malta 185/2 in 18.5 overs (Heinrich Gericke 91, Gopal Chaturvedi 32, Varun Prasath 24 n.o, Agagul Ahmedhel 1/22, Hristo Lakov 1/30) by 8 wickets (Scorecard)
Brief Scores (Unofficial T20s)
Malta 162/8 in 20 overs (Zeeshan Khan 54, Navdeep Singh Gill 23, Saim Hussein 3/26, Rohan Patel 2/26, Dimo Nikolov 2/29) beat Bulgaria 108 all out in 18.5 overs (Gagandeep Singh 52, Sujesh Appu 4/21, Amar Sharma 2/13, Waseem Abbas 2/25, Suhrid Roy 2/27) by 54 runs (Scorecard)
Bulgaria 143/8 in 20 overs (Saim Hussein 48, Prakash Mishra 40, Amar Sharma 2/20, Suhrid Roy 2/21, Noshair Akhter 2/32) lost to Malta 144/4 in 14 overs (Heinrich Gelicke 70, Haroon Mughal 28 n.o, Prakash Mishra 1/9, Zain Asif 1/12, Peter Stoychev 1/15) by 6 wickets (Scorecard)
Malta 245/5 in 20 overs (Heinrich Gelicke 52, Aaftab Khan 45 n.o, Zeeshan Khan 41, Navdeep Singh Gill 39, Agagul Ahmedhel 2/28, Gagandeep Singh 1/23, Umar Naveed 1/29) beat Bulgaria 183 all out in 18.5 overs (Prakash Mishra 59, Saim Hussein 52, Basil George 3/26, Heinrich Gelicke 2/15, Salu Thomas 2/49) by 62 runs (Scorecard)
