Saudi Arabia upset Bahrain to help Oman set up title clash with Canada
Muscat - Unfancied Saudi Ara
bia caused the biggest upset of the Desert Cup T20I Series on Sunday night when they shocked Bahrain by nine wickets in the concluding game of the double round-robin format at the Oman Cricket Academy (OCA) grounds.
Saudi Arabia’s massive victory paved the way for hosts Oman to squeeze into the final despite their narrow defeat to Canada.
Canada’s three-wicket win ensured their spot in the final as they garnered a total of ten points to finish on top of the table.
Oman’s defeat left them with six points and Bahrain’s loss meant both the teams finished with six points each.
However, the hosts had a better net run-rate of +2.135 as compared to -1.044 of Bahrain to scrape through and set up a title clash with Canada.
Bahrain, after winning the toss elected to bat, a decision that they would regret later. Saudi Arabia restricted the
much-experienced rivals to just 112/9 with half the team out back in pavilion inside the pow
erplay at 32/5. Haider Ali’s 41 was the only notable score as Saudi Arabia’s bowlers wreaked havoc.
Atif-ur-rehman with three for 19 was the most successful bowler while Ishtiaq Ahmed, Usman Najeeb and Zain Ul Abidin picked two wickets each.
In reply, Saudi opening batter
Faisal Khan smashed an unbeaten 81 off just 32 balls, which included nine boundaries and six maximums to power them to a memorable win.
Abdul Waheed Ghaffar’s unbeaten 20 saw the Saudis race to win in just 10.5 overs finishing at 115/1.
Earlier, Oman lost to Canada in another exciting game with the leaders recording a threewicket win with a ball to spare. The two teams will face-off in
the final.