U-19 teams of Kuwait and UAE have qualified for the final of the ACC U-19 Asia Cup Western region Qualifiers after defeating Oman U-19 and Qatar U-19 respectively in the semi-finals.
Kuwait and UAE will now contest the final tomorrow for the final spot in the U-19 Asia Cup, which will commence from 9th November in Malaysia.
While UAE U-19 got past Qatar U-19 quite convincingly by 7 wickets, Kuwait U-19 held off a tough challenge from Oman U-19 to win by 17 runs under Duckworth-Lewis method.
Qatar got bowled out for 116 in 42.2 overs with opener Hossain Khan (52 off 92) being the only major contributor towards the team total as other batsmen could not play out longer innings to support Hossain.
Rahul Neelesh (4/29 off 10) once again started the Qatar collapse and was supported well by Kartik Palaniappan (2/17 off 9) and Muhammad Ali (2/2 off 3).
UAE U-19 openers, Fahad Nawaz (52 off 65) and Aryan Lakra (35 off 92) did not let Qatar make any in-roads as the pair put on 92 runs for the opening wicket. Qatar picked up 2 more wickets as UAE reached 100 in the 29th over. The target was too small thereafter as they reached 117/3 in 32.3 overs to win the match by 7 wickets
In a rain affected 2nd semi-final, Kuwait got past Oman in a low-scoring game. Kuwait U-19 batted first and got bowled out for 150 in 49.2 overs. Abdul Sadiq (28 off 33) was the top-scorer as none of the other batsmen could get going after making the starting efforts and got out in their 10’s.
Wasim Ali (4/22 off 10) and Sanin Nisar (3/17 off 9) were the top Oman U-19 bowlers in the innings.
Oman U-19 were placed nicely at 95/4 in the 33rd over but Nomaan Sidiq (3/22 off 10), Anash Ashfaq (2/24 off 9) and Mushtaq Ahmad (2/3 off 2.5) triggered a dramatic middle and late order collapse to bowl Oman out for 124 in 42.5 overs to win the match by 17 runs by Duckworth-Lewis Method.
