UAE and Hong Kong finished their preparations for the upcoming Asian Cricket Council Asia Cup qualifiers by winning their warm-up matches against Malaysia’s President XI on 24th and 25th Aug 2018 at Selangor Turf club ground.
Hong Kong played President XI on 24th Aug which saw them batting first but getting bowled out for 204 runs in 49.2 overs after being in a strong position at 164/3, something captain Babar Hayat and coach Simon Cook has to contemplate about when they start their campaign in the main draw of the qualifiers.
Hong Kong bowlers have been on target in their warm-up games and produced another strong display, as they bowled out President XI for only 69 runs in 22.4 overs to win the match by a big margin. Such big margin victories might not be the case by any easy means when they face-off against the likes of UAE, Nepal and Oman.
Malaysia’s Pavandeep Singh (Virandeep’s brother and national squad team-mate) had a good outing with the ball against Hong Kong, as he took a 5-wicket haul and finished with figures of 5/25 in his 8.2 overs spell.
UAE also faced batting issues in their warm-up match against President XI on 25th Aug 2018, with Pavandeep Singh again leading in the bowling charts with figures of 3/35 and was given good support from Syahadat Ramli (2/13), as UAE got bowled out for 186 runs in 43.4 overs. Chirag Suri and Mohammad Usman scored half-centuries to hold their innings together at the start and in the middle overs.
Although UAE changed the batting line-up to get more players have a hit-out, that wouldn’t be the case when the qualifiers begin. It’s almost a certainty that Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar and Mohammad Usman will be taking the responsibility in the middle-order with Chirag Suri, Ashfaq Ahmed and Rohan Mustafa to take the charge at the top of the order.
UAE bowlers again looked in good touch and finding the right lengths to skittle out President XI for only 122 runs in 27.2 overs to win the match by 64 runs.
Brief Scores:
Hong Kong 204 all out in 49.2 overs (Ehsan Khan 55, Anshuman Rath 39, Nizakat Khan 35, Cameron McAuslan 30, Pavandeep Singh 5/25, Muhammad Anwar 2/6, Muhammad Wafiq 2/39) beat Malaysia President XI 69 all out in 22.4 overs (Che Wan Razlan 25, Tanwir Afzal 4/20, Ehsan Nawas 3/7, Jhathavedh Subramanyan 2/0) by 135 runs
UAE 186 all out in 43.4 overs (Chirag Suri 56, Mohammad Usman 51, Rameez Shahzad 27, Pavandeep Singh 3/35, Syahadat Ramli 2/13, Hafiz Khair 2/5, Dhivendran Mogan 1/19) beat Malaysia President XI 122 all out in 27.2 overs (Syahadat Ramli 43, Rohan Mustafa 3/10, Zahoor Khan 2/15, Imran Haider 2/22, Ahmed Raza 1/26) by 64 runs
