CRICKET – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s cricket national team emerged victorious in a historic bilateral series against Malaysia, clinching both the T20I and 50-over trophies on foreign soil.
The team, which travelled to Kuala Lumpur for the multi-format tour, secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory in the T20I series before delivering a dominant performance to whitewash the hosts 3-0 in the subsequent 50-over fixtures.
The T20I series provided a thrilling appetizer for the fans. After dropping the first match, the Bahraini side showcased tremendous resilience. The pivotal moment came in the second T20I, where the team snatched a sensational two-run victory to level the series.
Riding on this momentum, the visitors sealed the deal in the third and final T20I with a commanding seven-wicket win, proving their mettle in the shortest format of the game.
While the T20I series was a close contest, the 50-over segment was a masterclass in dominance. Bahrain carried their winning momentum into the longer format, displaying superior tactics and execution.
The first two matches saw Bahrain outplay the Malaysian side in all departments. The grand finale came in the third and final ODI, where the team held their nerve in a tense finish. In a match affected by rain, Bahrain secured a thrilling four-run victory via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method to complete the clean sweep.
Captain Ahmer Bin Nasir was the hero of the final match, anchoring the innings with a composed and unbeaten knock of 66 runs. His stellar performance earned him the Player of the Match award, while he also finished as the leading scorer in the series. Bahrain’s triumph in the third match came after a hard-fought 15-run win, also by DLS method, in the opening contest, which they followed with a dominant 41-run victory in the second.
The sensational sweep marked the perfect end to a highly successful tour for the visitors who got back into winning form and rose up in the International Cricket Council rankings.
BRIEF SCORES FOR LAST 50 OVERS
Toss: Malaysia
Malaysia: 294/9 (50 overs) Sharvin Muniyandy 76 (87) – 4 (4s) 3 (6s) Adeshile Alias 57 (45) – 7 (4s) 2 (6s) Mohammed Salman 10-1-28-2 Abdul Majid Abbasi 8-1-35-2
Bahrain: 208/4 (37.5 overs) Ahmer Bin Nasir 65 (82) – 6 (4s) Abdulla Yousaf 56 (82) – 5 (4s) Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak 6-0-36-2
Result: Bahrain won with revised target 204 using DLS by four runs
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