Malaysia marched into the last four along with Singapore and Hong Kong registering victory on Friday. Malaysia beat Thailand by 175 runs at the IOE ground, Pulchowk to proceed as the runners-up of Group A. [break]
Singapore claimed the top spot of Group A remaining undefeated in the league and beating Saudi Arabia by five wickets at the BSAM ground, Bhaktapur. Hong Kong outplayed Kuwait for a 94-run victory at the TU ground to finish runners-up behind Nepal in Group B.
At IOE ground, Malaysia elected to bat first and scored 247/9 and bowled out Thailand for 72 in 25.1 overs.
Malaysia rode on a second consecutive match-winning performance by Syahadat Ramli who scored 62 off 52 balls with eight fours to help the team accumulate a very good total.
Malaysian batsmen were on the flair with Razlan Zalath (36), Ahmad Jajudin (34), Amirul Hussain (27), Mohd Fetri Sham (25 off 12 balls) and Fadzrin Rosmanizam (15) getting runs. They also benefited from 32 extras.
For Thailand, Kushal Shah grabbed 3/30 while Siddhantham Vardhamanan got 2/46.
In reply, Thailand were more focused on staying on than going for the victory. The openers batted for nine overs scoring 22 runs but the slow bowlers baffled them enough.
Nik Nabil (3/12), Sham (3/15) and Ramli (2/12) ensured that they win convincingly by bowling out Thailand for 71 runs in 25.1 overs. Only two Thai batsmen, Witsanukorn Taptimthaz (15) and Nikhom Puttakho (10), scored double-digits.
At BSAM, Saudi Arabia were bowled out for 118 in 33 overs. Singapore needed 23 overs and five wickets to win the match to finish undefeated in the league round.
Varun Sivaram and Abhiraj Singh grabbed four wickets each for Singapore as Saudi failed to post a defensible total. Salman Patel (26), Mohd Abdullah (23) and Salman Saleem (21) were the scorers in the Saudi team.
Mohit Kulkarni remained unbeaten with 39 off 53 balls with five fours to take Singapore to victory along with Shivam Ahuja (17 not out off 15 balls). Ishaan Shekhar scored 22.
Abdullah (2/26) and Faheem Afrad (2/25) were the pick of the bowlers.
At TU ground, Hong Kong won the toss and scored 236/8 in 40 overs. Kinchit Shah scored 69 off 87 balls with seven fours and partnered Amandeep Singh for 59 runs. Amandeep himself got 35 off 21 balls with three fours and two sixes.
Anshuman Rath (22), Miten Khatri (19) and Farqan Tahir (15) also contributed to the total.
Five of the Hong Kong batsmen were run-out while Avinash Mohan grabbed 2/32. Abdul Jabar took a wicket.
After Hong Kong´s innings, Kuwait needed to win in 19.3 overs to qualify for the semifinals on better run-rate. They began by making 84 in 10 overs and 109 in 12 overs respectively.
Zakaria Ali played a knock to remember hitting 68 off just 59 balls with 10 fours and a six. He reached his half-century in 36 balls with eight fours and a six.
But there was not much support for him and his fall to Hong Kong´s captain Miten Khatri brought a quick end to Kuwaiti´s innings. They could only manage 142 in 22.4 overs.
Ali Zaheer got 23 and Mohan 10 while no other batsman reached a double-digit score. Miten finished with 4/19 while Amandeep (2/15) and Kinchit (2/29) contributed to help Hong Kong win.
Both semifinals will take place on Sunday.
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