Maqsood dazzles in Oman’s victory, Canada beat Saudi Arabia to stay top
Muscat – Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood’s career-best T20I knock, an unbeaten 102, led his team to a massive 106-run win over Bahrain in the Desert Cup T20I Series at the Oman Cricket Academy (OCA) ground in Al Amerat on Saturday.
In the other match of the evening, Canada bounced back from their loss to Bahrain to rout Saudi Arabia and stay on top of the table with eight points.
A day after Al Amerat skyline was lit up with dazzling drone and laser shows to mark Oman’s 52nd National Day, Maqsood lit up the skyline in Amerat again with his batting fireworks as he blasted his maiden T20I century – 102 not out in just 44 balls.
He achieved his personal milestone in style, hammering the last ball of Oman’s innings for a six, to give his side a formidable total of 220/5. Maqsood’s late charge saw seven of his nine maximums come in the last three overs of the
innings. His knock was also studded with seven boundaries as Oman put a step on the gas to
race from 149/4 to 220 in the final 24 balls.
Maqsood was given good support by Mohammed Nadeem with a 19-ball 30 and Rafiullah with a 14-ball 25. Earlier, openers, Jatinder Singh (28) and Kashyap Prajapati (13) gave the hosts a quick start with Duleep Mendis’
wards ensuring the scoring tempo at a good pace.
Bahrain’s frontline bowlers, Imran Khan, Rizwan Butt, Sathiayah Veerapathiran and Imran Javed, went for plenty with Butt and Khan conceding 53 and 45 runs in their respective spell of four overs.
Chasing a target of 221, Bahrain needed a strong start but Bilal Khan got an early breakthrough with skipper Sarfraz Ali
Maqsood achieved his personal milestone in style, hitting the last ball of the innings for a six
out for just 4. Imran Javed (22) and David Mathias put up a fight
back to lead the team to 60 in 6.5 overs. However, Rafiullah’s double strike off two successive balls put Bahrain on the back foot. Mathias’ dismissal by Samay Shrivastava for 39 in the 12th over triggered a collapse.
Bahrain then spun into Shrivastava’s web as the leg-spinner picked up four more wickets to end with figures of 4-0-18-5. Except for Ahmed Bin Nasir (28 not
out), Bahrain batters failed to put up a fight as their innings folded
for just 114 in 16 overs.