Bahrain's consolation win not enough; Philippines rolled over for 36 by Oman while Canada crumble to 80
Three strokes and one match fell to the wire to decide four semi-finalists with a shot to reach the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia on a wild day in Oman. Here's how the final day unfolded.
Group A
Bahrain 172 for 5 (Matthias 46*, Imtiaz 42, Hameed 1-10) beat UAE 170 for 6 wickets (Arvind 84*, Mustafa 41, Sarfaraz 2-24) by two runs
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates experienced a full range of emotions, with Bahrain registering a two-run victory in the biggest upset of the tournament. However, they still failed to advance to the semi-finals as UAE were partially ahead of them on net run rate.
Electing to bat first, Bahrain lost a wicket on the second ball of the game as Muhammad Younis cut Basil Hameed's offspin for a duck at backward point. But he counterattacked through captain Sarfaraz Ali and wicketkeeper Umar Imtiaz, who put on a 50-run stand for the second wicket. Sarfaraz hit four fours and two sixes, leaving the UAE's bowling unit too full, to drive the field on the way to 32 runs off 22 balls. Legspinner Karthik Meiyappan took a skid catch to break the stand in the seventh over.
Imtiaz eventually fell for a career-best 42, before Sathiya Veerapatiran chased down for 2 after five balls. But former Karnataka player David Mathias, who scored 46* off 35 balls, scored 76 runs in collaboration with Haider Butt, who scored 35 off 17. Run stand off last 34 balls. UAE almost paid dearly to rest their best fast bowler Zahoor Khan, as his replacement options at the time of death failed to include Mathias and Butt, who, like Sarfaraz, continued to occupy full length as Bahrain lost their Ended the innings with nine sixes.
On paper, UAE were set a target of 173 runs to win the match, but needed to score at least 158 runs to stay ahead of Bahrain on the net run rate tie-breaker. UAE lost heavy-duty opener Muhammad Wasim to a flat-foot swish for 2 runs in the second over, leaving Shahid Mahmood's medium pace behind. After a powerplay of 26 runs, Chirag Suri fell on the first ball, Veerapatiran's medium pace delivery fell over midwicket.
But Rohan Mustafa joined 19-year-old Vritya Aravind for a 91-run partnership to get the UAE back on track. With a score of 65 for two after ten, it became clear that the UAE's primary focus was on 158, with a match target of 173 at the top. Bahrain had a chance to put more pressure on the opposition, but failed to capitalize on a pair of opportunities presented by Mustafa. The first was bowled in the 18th over by left-arm spinner Muhammad Wasiq, who saw Junaid Aziz fail to run with the rope.
It turned out to be the only over of spin bowled in the chase as Sarfaraz took Wasik straight out of the attack. This meant that Sarfaraz did not give Aziz an over, despite the fact that the legspinner was Bahrain's leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with a player of the match performance of 5 for 5 against Germany. 2 for 16 in four overs against Ireland.
Mustafa could have been run out for 25 in the 14th over, as well as trying to pinch a leg-bye after a close collision with Aravind, when the ball was dead off the pitch. But Veerapatiran's throw went for several yards with Mustafa at the non-striker's end as he gathered in his follow-through, and was turned into two thanks to an overthrow. Mustafa was not as lucky in the 18th over, but butt's relay at long-on caught him asleep and came back casually to end his innings at 41 for the second run.
The next ball, Kashif Dawood was caught at deep midwicket for a golden duck, leaving UAE needing 32 off 16 balls for a place in the semi-finals. Arvind managed to cross the ball into the air on Dawood's wicket, and in the process came back to the UAE on his way to the UAE with a string of sixes after hitting a 44-ball half-century.
Sarfaraz then bowled a scintillating 19th over to create tension, with the wickets of Hameed and Jawar Farid for six in successive deliveries, before Muhammad Usman saw off a hat-trick by striking two to end the over. This meant Aravind would have strike for the final over, needing 12 to win the match and 27 to see UAE reach the semi-finals and finish top of the group ahead of Ireland on points.
Mahmood was given the ball but his length misfired throughout the over. Arvind hits the first ball over midwicket for four before hitting it for another boundary. A two-and-a-half six off the third delivery secured the United Arab Emirates a place in the semi-finals and knocked out Bahrain.
With 11 needed from the last two balls to win and 10 to force the Super Over, Aravind cleared the boundary with another sharp straight drive for a six off the final ball and two long-offs off the final ball. scuffed for. But despite seeing UAE reach the semi-finals with an unbeaten 84, match officials awarded player-of-the-match honors to Sarfaraz, giving Bahrain their first T20I win over an ally with ODI status.
Ireland 111 for 3 (Sterling 34, Balbirnie 32, Yar 2-20) beat Germany 107 for 7 (Mubashir 45*, Little 2-13, McBrine 2-15) by seven wickets
Ireland topped the group after beating Germany by seven wickets with 41 balls to spare. He started the day on net run rate from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, but surpassed both after sending Germany and restricting them to 107 before reaching the target. Faisal Mubashir top-scored for Germany with 45* off 40 balls, but found no support anywhere else. Josh Little was adjudged the player of the match for Ireland after taking 2 for 13 at a fast left-arm pace.
Paul Stirling made 34 off 27 balls and Andy Balbirnie 32 off 21, adding 67 runs for the first wicket before the two fell early, with Gareth Delany making 11 a short time later. But Harry Tector hit three fours for his unbeaten 24. 15 balls to take Ireland to the semi-finals.
Group B
Nepal 81 for 2 (Bhurtel 34*, Ari 27*, Sana 1-14) beat Canada 80 (Heliger 24*, Lamichhane 3-12, Bohra 2-7) by eight wickets.
What was set to be a dramatic afternoon to end group play ended in a whisper, as Nepal defeated Canada to end pool play 3–0 and top their group. defeated by eight wickets. Canada's win would have produced a 2–1 three-way tie with Oman for the first, allowing the two semi-finalists to be decided on net run rate. But after a confident start to bat first, Canada were reduced to 48 for 9 in the 11th over at 35 for 1 in the fifth over and were eventually bowled out for 80 in 15 overs.
Kamal Singh Airi ended a 33-run partnership to bundle out Canadian skipper Navneet Dhaliwal for 18, but the slide was accelerated by two sloppy run-outs in which both batsmen were injured at the same end. Nepal captain Sandeep Lamichhane took 3 for 12 in his four overs to capture the opening to tear the middle and lower order apart. The final wicket stand of just 32 runs between Dillon Heliger and Salman Nazar saved Canada from further humiliation.
Nepal chased down the target with 35 balls to spare. Despite a brief hiccup in the powerplay, in which Asif Sheikh and Kushal Malla fell in the space of four balls, vice-captain Deepender Singh Airi, who finished with 27*, and Kushal Bhurtel shared a 58-run stand with 34* . Nepal on the line and in the semi-finals.
Oman 40 for 1 (Nawaz 33*, Prajapati 4, Hujiafa 1-27) beat Philippines 36 (Smith 7, Khawar 4-11, Kalim 2-2) by nine wickets
On the adjacent oval in Al Amrat, Oman completed their rally from behind eight balls after a day's loss to Nepal by completing a nine-wicket win over the Philippines. After another nine-wicket win - over Canada in which Oman chased down a target of 156 with two overs to spare - Oman chased down a smaller target to achieve the same result as they bowled out the Philippines for 36. Gave.
After fielding first and delivering back-to-back totals of over 200 in their first two group matches, the Philippines opted to bat and responded with dismissals for the fifth-lowest total in men's T20I history.
While the medium pace pair of Kalimullah, 2 for 5, and Fayaz Butt's 2 for 7 broke the top order, legspinner Khawar Ali took 4 for 11 in a player-of-the-match performance lower down the order . After Kashyap Prajapati fell on the second ball of the chase, Khurram Nawaz smashed an unbeaten 33 off 12 balls to dash any hopes of the Philippines as Oman needed just 17 balls to chase down the target.
The results mean that Nepal will face UAE in one of the semi-finals, while Ireland will face Oman in the other. Each match is a winner-take-all shootout, with the winner of each semi-final receiving a place in the first round of the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup and a place in the final of the qualifiers in Oman, while the pair of the losing side receives one. Consolation come back in the third place playoffs.