Hong Kong, which is slated in the group ´B´ and had lost opening match against Nepal, defeated Saudi Arabia by 44 runs at the engineering campus ground, Lalitpur on Monday.
Hong Kong, electing to bat first, put up 151/6 in 20 overs as Munir Dar scored unbeaten 54 runs off 28 balls. [break]
He struck six boundaries and two sixes. Courtney Kruger (38 off 47 balls) and Waqas Barkat (25 off 8 balls) were the other major contributors in Hong Kong´s innings.
Mohammad Zaheer, Khawar Sohail, Waqas Akram, Faheem Afrad and Kashif Shafiq picked a wicket each.
Saudi Arabia was all out for 107 runs with two balls remaining. Kashif Shafiq scored 70 runs off 46 balls but his effort went in vain as none of the other batsmen reached double-digit score. Five of the Saudi batsmen could not open their accounts. However, Shafiq struck seven boundaries and three sixes.
Aizaz Khan and Irfan Ahmed took two wickets each while man-of-the-match Munir Dar and Nadeem Ahmed grabbed a wicket each.
After the win, Hong Kong has the second position in the group with two points from two matches. Saudi Arabia is at the bottom of the table after losing two matches. The UAE has four points and top position while Kuwait and Nepal both have two points in their accounts but Kuwait has the third position with better net run rate.
Meanwhile, Malaysia defeated the Maldives by 19 runs at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur on Monday.
Malaysia, which had lost to Afghanistan in its first match, put up 147/8 in 20 overs after the Maldives elected to field. Opener Hammad Ullah Khan struck seven boundaries and a six to score 54 runs off 40 balls while Suharril Fetri remained not out scoring 42 runs off 37 balls. Hassan Ibrahim and Moosa Kaleem claimed three wickets each.
The Maldives gave its all effort but remained 19 runs short of target as Malaysia restricted it at 128/7 in 20 overs. Moosa Kaleem scored 47 runs off 43 balls, hitting four boundaries and three sixes. Abdullah Shahid (20 off 13) and H Haziq (21 off 21) were the other major contributors for the Maldives.
Hassan Ghulam and Shahrulnizam Yusof took two wickets each while man-of-the-match Hammad Ullah Khan and Shukri Abdul Rahim claimed a wicket each.
After the win, Malaysia has fourth position in the points table of the group ´A´ with two points. Afghanistan is on the top with four points from two matches while Oman and the Maldives have two points each but Oman has superior net run rate.
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