Cricket Romania hosted the men’s national squad from Bulgaria in a 4-match T20I series from October 16th – 18th, 2020. The series, known as Balkan Cup saw all the matches played at Moara Vlasiei ground in Ilfov county in Bucharest.
The first match in the series was played on 16th, followed by a double-header on the 17th and the final game on 18th. Bulgaria had come prepared for the tournament, having played T20I games against Malta, who visited them in September 2020 for a 4-match series.
These were the first International fixtures in 2020 for the men’s team of Federatia Romana de Cricket, the governing body of cricket in Romania, who hosted European Cricket Series (ECS T10) event in collaboration with the European Cricket Network, which involved four cricket clubs, namely Baneasa, Cluj, ICCB and United cricket club. The previous occasion when Romania hosted an International tournament was in August 2019, when they held the 5-nation Continental T20I Cup event, featuring team’s from Austria, Luxembourg, Czech Republic and Turkey.
Balkan Cup Squads
Romania: Ramesh Satheesan (Captain), Waqar Abbasi, Asif Bevinje, Petre Danci, Pavel Florin, Imran Haider, Ijaz Hussain, Gohar Manan, Patras Masih, Satvik Nadigotla, Sivakumar Periyalwar, Vasu Saini, Abdul Shakoor, Shantanu Vashisht, Gherasim Marian and Sami Ullah and Cosmin Zavoiu
Bulgaria: Prakash Mishra (Captain), Hristo Lakov, Agagyul Ahmadhel, Sulaiman Ali, Rohan Bhavesh Patel, Kevin D’Souza, Aravinda De Silva, Kiran Dasan, Boiko Ivanov, Hristo Ivanov, Ivaylo Katzarski, Nikolay Nankov, Dimo Nikolov, Asad-Ali Rehemtulla, Bakhtiar Tahiri and Delrick Varghese
Brief Scores
Bulgaria 128/5 in 20 overs (Bakhtiar Tahiri 41, Kevin D’Souza 28 n.o, Ishan De Silva 27, Sulaiman Ali 15, Sami Ullah 2/23, Ramesh Satheesan 1/20, Asif Bevinje 1/26) beat Romania 95 all out in 17.4 overs (Abdul Shakoor 20, Gohar Manan 16, Sami Ullah 10, Sulaiman Ali 2/8, Asad-Ali Rehemtulla 2/16, Prakash Mishra 2/16, Bakhtiar Tahiri 2/18, Rohan Patel 2/20) by 33 runs (Scorecard)
Romania 148/2 in 15 overs (Ramesh Satheesan 92 n.o, Satwik Nadigotla 21, Vasu Saini 16, Rohan Patel 1/22, Prakash Mishra 1/25) beat Bulgaria 96/6 in 15 overs (Sulaiman Ali 33, Bakhtiar Tahiri 15, Pavel Florin 2/10, Asif Abdullah 1/11, Shantanu Vashisht 1/13, Ijaz Hussain 1/18) by 52 runs (Scorecard)
Romania 209/6 in 20 overs (Ramesh Satheesan 67, Vasu Saini 44 n.o, Imran Haider 19, Gohar Manan 18, Dimo Krasimirov 2/27, Rohan Patel 1/25, Sulaiman Ali 1/29) beat Bulgaria 175/6 in 20 overs (Bakhtiar Tahiri 66, Kiran Dasan 37, Prakash Mishra 22, Hristo Ivanov 15, Waqar Abbasi 2/30, Asif Abdullah 1/20, Vasu Saini 1/22, Gherasim Florentin Marian 1/22) by 34 runs (Scorecard)
Bulgaria 60 all out in 14.3 overs (Hristo Ivanov 13, Shantanu Vashisht 3/11, Vasu Saini 2/8, Patras Masih 2/18, Ijaz Hussain 1/7, Pavel Florin 1/8) lost to Romania 61/4 in 9.4 overs (Cosmin Zavoiu 14, Pavel Florin 14, Sivakumar Periyalwar 12 n.o, Prakash Mishra 2/8, Nikolay Aleksandrov 1/13) by 6 wickets (Scorecard)
