A spectacular last-over assault by Vriitya Aravind proved futile as Bahrain beat the UAE by just two runs in their final group match of the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier A tournament in Oman – but failed to qualify for the semi-finals.
The UAE entered the final over of the match needing 27 runs with four wickets in hand to overhaul Bahrain’s total of 172-5, with the right-handed Aravind on 60 off 46 balls. The equation came down to five required to win off the last delivery after Aravind plundered 22 off the first five balls, including two fours and two sixes off medium-pacer Shahid Mahmood.
Needing to hit a six to win – with a four tying the score and taking the game into a Super Over – Aravind could only score a couple as Mahmood held his nerve, leaving Bahrain winners by the slimmest of margins.
Aravind finished with 84 not out off 52 deliveries, to go along with his match-winning 97 not out against Ireland in their first game of the tournament.
The UAE’s late surge in the Group A match, played at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground, meant that victors Bahrain, who finished level on points with both the UAE and Ireland – one of two other teams, along with Germany, in the group – still could not make the cut for the semi-finals, with Ireland and the UAE edging them out on superior net run-rate.
Earlier, Bahrain won the toss and, having chosen to bat, shrugged off the early loss of opener Mohammad Younis in the first over as wicketkeeper-batsman Umer Imtiaz, in at three, joined captain Sarfaraz Ali in an exhibition of fluent stroke-play in the first power-play.
By the time Ali fell to leg-spinner Karthik Meiyappan for a quick-fire 32 off 22 balls, the score read 50-2 after seven overs.
Imtiaz and David Mathias, at number four, didn’t let the momentum slip, adding 41 runs in quick time before Imtiaz and Sathaiya Veerapathiran perished in quick succession.
Mathias and new batsman Haider Butt then accelerated, smashing 76 runs off the last 5.4 overs to propel Bahrain to a very competitive 172-5 off their allotted 20 overs. Mathias finished with 46 not out off 35 balls, with Haider being run-out for an innings-defining 35 off just 17 balls including three fours and two sixes.
In reply, the UAE struggled to come to terms with a disciplined medium-pace attack, losing both openers by the time the score read 35 off six overs.
Veteran UAE player Rohan Mustafa joined wicketkeeper-batsman Aravind and the two added 91 off the next 10 overs before Mustafa was run out for 41 with the UAE on 126-3, just under three overs left and still 45 runs adrift.
They lost three more wickets for 18 runs in the space of 10 balls and ended the 19th over on 146-6, setting the stage for Aravind to nearly pull off an incredible, final-over heist.
Ireland, the Group A leaders, will now play tournament hosts Oman today, who placed second in Group B that also featured the Philippines, Canada and table-toppers Nepal, who will take on the UAE in an adjacent ground at the same time.
The tournament isn’t over yet for Bahrain who will now take on the Philippines today to determine which of the remaining teams – Canada and Germany among them – will compete for the fifth and seventh place play-offs that will take place on Thursday.
The losing semi-finalists will also engage in a third-place play-off. All the play-offs are for seeding and ranking purposes only.
Bahrain, a team of weekend amateurs, are currently ranked 31st in the ICC Men’s T20I rankings. The UAE are ranked 12th in the list which is headed by England.
“This was an amazing accomplishment,” Bahrain Cricket Federation (BCF) president Hatim Dadabai said. “To beat a team like the UAE that just beat Ireland and which is ranked so high in the table; that has had a professional cricketing structure for years is absolutely wonderful. We came very close to qualifying for the World Cup so we know we can do it – and we will, next year!”
BCF advisory board chairman Mohammad Mansoor was also upbeat about the team’s performance, despite Bahrain losing out on a semi-final berth by the proverbial hair’s breadth.
“That’s the nature of the game – one side wins, the other loses,” he said. “But we did exceptionally well and we’ll do even better next time.”
Mansoor said there were major plans in the works to organise cricket activity extremely professionally from the ground up.
“All of this is being made possible by the support and interest of Supreme Council for Youth and Sport first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa,” he said.
&uuid=(email))