Malaysia U-23 team registered a nail-biting victory over Singapore U-23 by a solitary wicket in the 50 overs match played at the Kinara Oval at Puchong for the Carl Schubert Trophy.
Batting first, Singapore U-23 were bowled out for 162 in 49.4 overs, which Malaysia U-23 were able to chase down but only managing to win by 1 wicket as they scored 163/9 in 44.2 overs.
Singapore’s total was achieved mainly due to Utsav Rakshit’s knock of 59 off 88 deliveries and in the company of Yuvraj Singh (34 off 84), put on a 56 runs partnership for the 5th wicket after they were down at 44/4 at one stage. However, after Yuvraj’s departure, the remaining line-up could not score freely and struggled to find momentum in the final overs.
Dhivendran Mogan (4/38) was the pick of the bowlers for Malaysia U-23 and got good support from Anwar Abdul Rahman (2/20 off 10) and Wafiq Irfan Zarbani (1/17 off 9).
Malaysian innings almost had a similar storyline with them getting reduced to 61/4 before a 72 runs partnership for the 5th wicket between Sharvin Muniandy (51 off 68) and Muhammad Ramli (43 off 49) looked like taking Malaysia to victory with ease. However, Aryaman Uchil came back for his 2nd spell and picked up 4 wickets in no time to reduce Malaysia to 158/8. Another wicket fell as Singapore sensed an unlikely victory but Mogan & Zarbani managed to hold out the attack and make the remaining 4 runs required for victory.
Aryaman Uchil (4/28) almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for Singapore U-23. Abhinav Raman and Deepak Sarika also contributed well with the ball picking up 2 wickets apiece.
