Batsman Faisal Khan leads Saudi Arabia to semi-final victory in ACC Men’s T20I Challenger Cup

BANGKOK: Saudi Arabia surged to a semi-final 10-wicket victory over Japan in the Asian Cricket Council Men’s T20I Challenger Cup to line up a final showdown on Sunday against Cambodia.

The win at the TCG in Bangkok was built on the bowling of Ishtiaq Ahmad and Usman Najeeb and the batting of Faisal Khan, who hit 72 not out off 33 balls.

Saudi Arabia, winners of Group A, won the toss and elected to ball against Group B runners-up Japan.

Ahmad claimed his first wicket after just four balls, bowling Lachlan Lake out for a duck. It took Japan’s captain Kendel Fleming until the third over to open his scoring but soon after he was caught out for one run, leaving his team two wickets down with only two runs on the board.

Koji Abe smashed two fours off Atif-ur-Rehman in the fourth over and after six overs Japan had reached 24 for two.

Najeeb and Hisham Shaikh kept up the pressure on Japan’s batsmen, and by the halfway mark Japan were on 39 for three.

With Japan on 72 for five off 15 overs, Ahmad returned to pick up his third wicket, finishing with three for 15. Najeeb claimed two wickets in two balls, his three for 13 restricting Japan to 97 for eight.

Saudi Arabia began their innings steadily before notching 16 runs off the third over, 13 off the fourth, and 24 off the fifth.

With the Saudi team on 73 for no wickets, and Abdul Waheed on 20, Khan took to the field and quickly hit 50 runs off just 20 balls. Khan went on to smash 72 from 33 balls — including 10 fours and four sixes — to help the Saudis secure victory in nine overs.

In doing so he became the tournament’s leading run-scorer and six-hitter, with the highest strike rate. Najeeb was awarded player of the match by the umpires.

Both semi-final-winning teams automatically qualify for a place in the Twenty20 version of the Premier Cup to be held in Oman in April. 

Cambodia, playing in their first ACC-sanctioned tournament, beat Singapore in the other semi-final and will join Saudi Arabia in the Premier Cup.