KATHMANDU: Saudi Arabia’s run in the ACC Premier Cup 2023 came to an end on Wednesday when they lost to Oman by 72 runs, but the squad will go home with high praise for their performance.
Saud Arabia’s appearance in the tournament held in Nepal started last Thursday. The team lost the first fixture to Malaysia but two days later outplayed Qatar. On Monday, they split competition points with Nepal after their group stage game was abandoned because of rain.
In Wednesday’s match, Saudi Arabia folded with 294 runs in the 47th over in reply to Oman’s 366 runs for six wickets in 50 overs. With that result, the Saudi team came fourth in Group A, collecting three points in four matches. Victorious Oman (six) and hosts Nepal (five) progressed to the semifinals, while the journeys of Malaysia (four) and winless Qatar ended in the group stage.
After the match with Oman, Saudi head coach Kabir Khan told Arab News that the team, which was still new to international cricket, showed great talent.
“Oman are an experienced side. They have been in the game for a long time. Today they won with experience, talentwise we were good enough,” he said.
“Teams like Nepal, Oman and UAE have been playing cricket at this level for 15, 20 years. And if we look at the new Saudi Arabia team, we’ve been playing for a year now. So, the difference is there and we’ve got talent we can work on.”
The team’s captain, Hisham Sheikh, was proud of the fightback shown by Saudi batters Abdul Waheed and Saad Khan.
“Both Waheed and Saad played really well in the middle,” he said. “We had pressure to score at six, seven runs per over and we couldn’t continue that throughout the innings. A bit of trouble in the middle cost us but we will take this as a learning curve.”
Saudi Arabia’s performance was praised by their opponents.
Oman’s captain and player of the match, skipper Zeeshan Maqsood, noted the Saudi team’s excellent batting.
“Our batters played really well in the first innings, but Saudi Arabia gave a good fight in the second. They played our strike bowlers really well,” he told Arab News.
“Saudi Arabia showed a great fight and put us in a tough time. We take positives from this match going forward. They showed the class and proved they are a good side. They definitely can come up and play good cricket.”
Saudi Arabia bowled first after winning the toss, but Oman’s five batters scored half centuries as the team piled up 366 for six wickets in the allotted 50 overs. The openers built a 125-run stand in 17.2 overs before Oman’s Kashyap Prajapti fell to Abdul Wahid on 51.
Oman’s Shoaib Khan came in to join Jatinder Singh and both made half centuries before returning to the pavilion. Singh fell 12 runs short of a consecutive century in the tournament when he was caught behind off the bowling of centurion Waheed. Singh scored 11 fours and two sixes in a 79-ball 88. Shoaib Khan added 68 runs to put Oman 238 for three wickets in 37.5 overs.
Oman captain Maqsood scored 54 runs off 49 balls and Mohammad Nadeem followed suit to make sure their team crossed the 350-run mark. Nadeem hit six fours and four sixes as he remained not out on 71 runs off just 38 balls. Saudi’s Atif Ur Rehman picked up three wickets supported by two wickets from Wahid and one wicket from Waheed.
In reply, Saudi lost their first wicket for just seven runs. Waqar Ul Hassan added just three runs to the total. Waheed then continued his rich run of form as he partnered with Saad Khan to build a strong partnership. Both completed their half centuries and steadied the innings for Saudi Arabia. Midway through the innings, Saudi had control of the game but a double strike in the 30th over from Jay Odedra dashed hopes of an unlikely victory.
Odedra first hit Saad’s off-stump and then sent Waheed back when he was five runs short of consecutive centuries. Saad scored 78 runs off 80 balls. Waheed made 95 runs off 86 balls before edging behind. Saad and Waheed added 177 runs for the second wicket.
Wickets tumbled thereafter and Saudi could not build any partnerships. Skipper Hisham Sheikh stood firm in the middle but he did not have any partners as Manan Ali with no runs, Haseeb Ghafoor (six) and Imran Arif (10) did not stay around for long. Hisham toiled hard to score 36 off 38 balls before sending a catch back to opposite skipper Maqsood.
Wahid scored 25 but the remaining wickets fell in quick succession and Saudi Arabia were all out for 294 in 46.5 overs. Bilal Khan picked up four wickets for Oman with Odedra getting three scalps. Maqsood got two and Ayaan Khan picked up a wicket.
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