Captain Sarfaraz Ali and leg-spinner Junaid Aziz turned in match-winning performances on Friday as Bahrain beat Germany by six wickets with more than four overs to spare in their opening game of the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier A tournament in Oman.
Ali scored 69 off 38 balls and hit the winning boundary as Bahrain chased down a 107-run target with ease after leg-spinner Aziz took five wickets for just five runs in a sensational 10-ball spell to bowl Germany out for just 106 in 16.4 overs.
Germany, who were 99-4 at one stage, lost their last six wickets for just seven runs, including four in four balls with the score on 99.
A team of weekend amateurs, Bahrain are aiming to become one of two teams, from the eight-team tournament being held in Oman, to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup, set to be hosted by Australia in October-November this year.
The eight teams are divided into two groups, with Ireland and the UAE slotted along with Bahrain and Germany in Group A.
Sent in to bat after Ali won the toss at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground, Germany – like Bahrain, comprised of expatriate amateurs, mostly with South Asian roots – got off to a steady start before losing opener Justin Broad to medium-pacer Shahid Mahmood with the score on 29 in the sixth over.
They were soon reduced to 55-4 at the end of the ninth over as the Bahrain bowlers stuck to a display of disciplined bowling. Captain Venkatraman Ganesan then joined opener Vijayshankar Chikkanniah and the two added 44 runs for the fifth wicket in quick time before Aziz, brought on for his first spell in the 15th over, struck with his third delivery, getting Ganesan stumped by wicketkeeper Muhammad Safdar for 20.
Aziz struck again off the very next ball, inducing a false shot from Fayyaz Khan before Dieter Klein managed to play out the hat-trick delivery. He perished off the very next delivery, however, leaving Germany tottering on 99-7.
That became 99-8 off the very next ball – the first delivery of the next over – when Chikkanniah, who had just reached a well-deserved half-century, fell lbw to a skiddy off-break from Haider Butt for 50 off 43 balls.
An over later, Germany had been bundled out for 106 with Aziz, who also claimed the last two wickets, finishing with the remarkable figures of 5-5 off just 1.4 overs.
In reply, Bahrain began badly, losing opener Mohammad Younis and one-down Umer Imtiaz to the left-arm medium pace of Dieter Klein in the first over. But captain and star batsman Ali had other plans.
From the ruins of 3-2 after the first over, he put on a rapid 57 for the third wicket with Aziz who, not content with having put on an outstanding bowling display, displayed his batting prowess as well, playing a crucial supporting role to his skipper’s fluent stroke-play.
And Ali was magnificent: sizing up the situation when his side were two down, he suddenly exploded in the fifth over, carting medium-pacer Justin Broad for 12 runs, including a magnificent six.
The floodgates opened then and there was no stopping the Bahrain skipper. German captain Ganesan rang in the bowling changes. But Ali was in his element now, stepping down the pitch to the slow left-arm spin of Elam Bharati to launch him back over his head for six, before treating Germany’s other left-arm spinner, Muslim Yar, with utter disdain, hitting him for sixes in three successive overs.
Not even the loss of Aziz, with the score at 60-3 in the 10th over, could stop Ali as he continued to score at will. Eventually, when Yar made the mistake of bowling length, Ali played inside-out to steer the ball over extra-cover for his fifth six and bring up a spectacular half century off just 29 balls.
Debutant David Mathias, in at five, reduced to being a spectator to Ali’s fireworks, then found his groove also, slashing off-spinner Ghulam Ahmedi for four before falling for 15 with the score at 91-4 and just 16 required for victory with six overs to go.
Eleven balls later, it was all over, with Ali having hit his sixth six and a couple of boundaries, the last of which was the winning stroke as Bahrain romped home with 26 balls to spare.
Aziz, upon whom head coach Aashish Kapoor heaped praise, was named the player-of-the-match for his outstanding all-round performance.
“I recognised Junaid Aziz as a potential match-winner from day one,” Kapoor said, on a call from Oman. “He bowled extremely well today and repaid the faith we have in him,” he added.
Ali, Kapoor said, played a ‘superb knock’. “He played a match-winning innings,” the head coach said. “You can’t ask for anything more from your captain.”
At home, Bahrain Cricket Federation (BCF) president Hatim Dadabhai said he and other board members were ‘thrilled’ by the win. “It’s not just us,” Dadabhai said. “All of Bahrain should be happy with this result. This is a motivated, inspired team and they should receive lots of support from all of us.”
Bahrain’s next match is today against Ireland, who – in what could be termed an ‘upset’ – lost to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 18 runs yesterday.
But Ireland’s loss, which could potentially have dented their confidence, had no bearing on his team’s preparation for the match-up today, Kapoor said.
“We are going to remain focused and approach it tactically,” he said. “If we win the toss, we’ll bat first and set them a target because we’re going to be playing on the same wicket and it’ll probably behave differently today.”
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