By Shahzad Raza
MUSCAT: Oman booked a berth in the semifinals of the ACC Under-16 Western Region Championship by beating Qatar here at OC Grassy ground 1 in Amerat on Saturday.
Group B topper Oman will now take on Bahrain in the semifinal on ground 1 on Monday, October 28 while UAE, which leads Group A will play Kuwait the same day on the adjacent ground 2. The final is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, October 29.
“We have reached the last four stage without losing a game which gives our boys a lot of confidence for the knockout game. Our boys are working hard and are in great touch. We are pretty confident of beating Bahrain and making it to the final,” said a jubilant Oman coach Syed Tariq Hussain.
Oman ended its Group B campaign with 6 points from 3 games followed by Kuwait at 4 points from equal number of matches. Group A has UAE on top with 6 points followed by Bahrain with 4.
In its last group game on Saturday, Oman continued its unbeaten run in the championship by making short work of Qatar. In yet another splendid bowling performance, Oman skittled Qatar out for only 88 in the 29th over, Siddh Mehta and captain Amanpreet Singh leading the bowling honours with figures of 3 for 16 and 2 for 6 respectively. Dhanitha Sandesh was the only main scorer for Qatar with 36 off 60.
Hoping for a smooth sailing, Oman was put under considerable pressure by Qatar, as it lost 5 wickets for only 42 runs on the board before the Red Brigade bounced back in style to seal the game with a four-wicket win in the 19th over, scoring 91 for 6. Amanpreet Singh led the way with an unbeaten 26. Qatar’s Fateen Suhail bowled well, taking 4 for 29.
In the day’s other game, Kuwait thrashed Maldives by 246 runs.
Brief scores: Qatar 88 all out in 28.4 overs (Dhanitha Sandesh 36 – 4×4, Nivid Patel 18 – 1×4. Siddh Mehta 3-16, Amanpreet Singh 2-06) lost to Oman 91 for 6 in 18.5 overs (Amanpreet Singh 26 not out – 2×4, 1×6, Aujun Suresh 14 – 3×4. Fateen Suhail 4-29) by 4 wickets.