Muscat – Unbeaten half-centuries by Kashyap Prajapati and skipper Zeeshan Maqsood powered hosts Oman to a nine-wicket win over Canada in the Group A match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier A, supported by Dream 11, at the Oman Academy ground in Al Amerat on Saturday.
In the second game of the morning session, Nepal strolled to a 136-run win over Philippines to top the group with four points after their back-to-back victories. Canada and Oman have two points each now.
Oman’s win helped them bounce back to keep their hopes alive for a spot in the semi-finals. The top-two teams in each group will advance to the knockout round. Chasing a target of 156 to win, hosts lost opening batter Jatinder Singh in the fifth over with the total at 30.
Maqsood joined Prajapati in the middle and the pair exhibited some fine strokes all around the park. The duo took the attack to the bowlers to share a 129-run unbroken partnership to secure a comfortable win with 12 balls to spare. Prajapati was unbeaten for 74 off 56 balls.
His knock was studded with five boundaries and four sixes. Maqsood displayed more attacking intent to race to his 76 off just 44 balls, with six boundaries and five maximums. Jatinderpal Matharu’s second over cost him 19 runs as Maqsood hammered three fours and a six.
Along with Prajapati, the skipper continued the attack as they smashed the bowling attack for a total of 47 runs in just three overs to wrap up the win.
Rayyan Pathan and Matharu went for plenty in their spell as they gave away 24 and 23 runs respectively in their two-over spells. Earlier, Ravinderpal Singh anchored Canada’s innings with a partnership with Saad Zafar to guide the team to 83 before Maqsood broke the stand.
Ahead of their must-win match against Nepal on Monday, Canadian skipper Navneet Dhaliwal said, “We know it is a big game. The good thing is we are not out of the tournament yet so we will try our best.”
Skipper Maqsood said, “We really needed this win, and it was great to achieve it. After Jatinder got out, coach (Duleep Mendis) supported my decision to come out at one down.
“The way KP (Kashyap) played was crucial. We were getting runs on both the ends so that put pressure on Canada. I was also happy that we could restrict Canada to 155. We had a complete performance and the way we won underlines it.”
Article: Muscat Daily
