The Premier Cup Semi-finals Will Be Between Kuwait and Hong Kong

Kuwait pulled off a remarkable upset in their final group match against Hong Kong, a four-time Asia Cup qualifier.

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The Gulf state’s 30-run win secured their place in the semi-finals of the ACC Premier Cup at Kathmandu, alongside ODI nations Nepal, UAE, and Oman.

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This victory puts Kuwait two steps closer to their debut appearance at the ACC’s flagship event.

The last match of Group B was effectively a quarter-final following Hong Kong’s previous washout against Bahrain, which left them vulnerable to a surprise defeat, despite their convincing wins over Singapore and the UAE.

Initially, Kuwait seemed to struggle at 108-5, but Shiraz Khan and Usman Patel steadied the innings with half-centuries.

The tail-enders’ impressive counter-attack pushed the Kuwaitis to a challenging total of 272-8.

Hong Kong’s captain Nizakat Khan made a valiant effort with a half-century at the top of the order.

However, the early dismissals of Anshuman Rath, Babar Hayat, and Kinchit Shah put Hong Kong on the back foot.

Despite Aizaz Khan and Yasim Murtaza’s determined efforts in the middle overs, Hong Kong couldn’t regain the upper hand, and eventually fell to a 30-run defeat, ending their hopes of a third consecutive Asia Cup appearance.

Despite suffering a huge 143-run defeat to the UAE in their first match, Kuwait managed to scrape through a hard-fought two-wicket win against Bahrain.

Although they bowled out Singapore for a paltry 113 runs with Mohammad Aslam claiming 5-20, the Kuwaitis lost six wickets in their chase.

At the same time, Hong Kong had looked well on track for another qualifying run, following an easy win against Singapore in their opener, thanks to Babar Hayat’s unbeaten 108* off 94 balls.

Hong Kong’s victory over the stronger UAE side in their next game seemed to all but secure a spot in the semi-finals.

Anshuman Rath’s assured century took Hong Kong to 263-5, despite Aayan Khan’s five-wicket haul, and consistent wickets kept the Emiratis under control until rain intervened, leaving them 67 runs short of their target.

While Kuwait appeared to be the underdogs, they managed to pull off a surprise win in the final match to secure a semi-final spot, proving that anything can happen in cricket.

Due to persistent rain, Hong Kong’s match against Bahrain was called off, which meant that Kuwait’s surprising win tied them with the UAE at the top of the Group B table with six points each.

Except for their defeat against Hong Kong, the Emirates looked like a cut above the rest during the group phase, as evident from their impressive net run rate of +2.5 per over.

Vritya Aravind’s remarkable return to form played a significant role in UAE’s position at the top. Aravind has scored a whopping 428 runs at an average of 143 so far in the tournament.

He scored 185 runs in the tournament opener against Kuwait, followed by another 174 against Singapore, helping UAE to reach an enormous total of 471 and win by a massive 201 runs.

The only thing that prevented Aravind from scoring another ton was Bahrain’s collapse in front of Aayan Khan, the left-arm spinner leading the wicket-taking tally with 12 wickets from four matches.

Aravind was left unbeaten at 62* as UAE chased down the target of 117 runs inside 28 overs.

Bahrain secured the fourth spot thanks to their convincing 132-run win over Singapore, who have been struggling in the 50-over format ever since Tim David’s departure.

Singapore faced three consecutive defeats by a margin of over 100 runs.

In Group A, Nepal managed to top the table with three wins from their three completed matches, along with a wash-out against Saudi Arabia, despite a scare in their final match against Qatar.

After convincingly defeating Malaysia in their opening match, Nepal defeated eventual runners-up Oman in their second game by passing 300 for the first time in ODIs, thanks to Kushal Malla’s blistering 108 off 64 balls.

In the same game, Sandeep Lamichhane became the fastest bowler to reach 100 wickets milestone in his 42nd ODI, taking 3-45, as Nepal sealed an 84-run win.

Even though the wash-out against Saudi had already secured their semi-final spot, a loss against Qatar would have drawn them against a dominant UAE side.

Lamichhane’s rearguard 42* dragged the home side to 157 before claiming 5-14 in the Qatari reply to preserve Nepal’s unbeaten home run.

Oman secured a comfortable second place with wins in their other three matches.

It took a clinical show of top-tail bowling from Bilal Khan to hold off Gulf rivals Qatar in their tournament opener, claiming 4-42 to restrict Qatar to 209.

Skipper Zeeshan Maqsood’s 4-35 in their third match against Malaysia kept the target to a manageable 228, despite Virandeep Singh’s 94 off 144. In the same game, Jatinder Singh’s unbeaten 101* ensured Oman had little trouble in the chase.