All-rounder Junaid Aziz scored a superb, unbeaten 56 to guide Bahrain to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Bhutan at the AIT cricket ground in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday in their opening Group A One-Day International (ODI) match of the inaugural 2023 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Men’s Challenger Cup.
Needing a mere 105 to win off the allotted 50 overs, Aziz’s 85-ball knock enabled Bahrain to chase down the small target for the loss of only three wickets in 29.3 overs and more than 20 overs to spare in their first-ever ODI.
Coming in to bat at number three after the early loss of opener Shahbaz Bader with the score at 15 for one in the fourth over, player-of-the-match Aziz looked in command from the outset as he smacked five fours and two sixes in his match-winning innings.
He partnered with the other opener Prashant Kurup in a solid 64-run stand in 20 overs for the second wicket before being joined by Sohail Ahmed when Kurup fell to Suprit Pradhan for 27 with Bahrain 79 for two in the 24th over.
Ahmed lasted only nine balls before also falling to Pradhan for eight with his team 89 for three in the 26th over and only 16 required for victory and newly-appointed captain Haider Butt, who came in at number five, and Aziz knocked off the remaining runs without any bother.
Earlier, Butt had put Bhutan in after winning the toss and he was rewarded for his decision immediately when medium-pacer Rizwan Butt clean-bowled Manoj Adhikari with the very first ball of the innings.
Thinley Jamtsho, in at number three, and Tenzin Rabgay then added 41 for the second wicket in 11 overs before Abdul Majid Malik accounted for Jamtsho with Bhutan 41 for two in the 12th over.
In his next over, Malik snapped up two more wickets and, when Sathaiya Veerapathiran had Tashi Phuntsho caught by Badar an over later, Bhutan were suddenly in dire straits at 44 for five after 15 overs.
They were eventually dismissed for 104 off 32.2 overs after the five remaining wickets managed to cobble 60 runs together off 17.2 overs.
Medium-pacer Butt, Veerapathiran and Malik shared the spoils with three wickets apiece before Aziz also came to the party during Bahrain’s innings.
Bahrain will play their next game against the Maldives tomorrow at the same venue.
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