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The ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier A kicked off on Friday, August 30, with three matches across two venues. Each of the three matches turned out to be a one-sided affair, with Malaysia, Hong Kong and Kuwait securing huge wins over Maldives, Myanmar and Mongolia, respectively.
Hong Kong registered the biggest win on the day and are at the top of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier A points table with a net run-rate (NRR) of 8.833. Kuwait are placed second on the seven-team standings with an NRR of 8.000, followed by Malaysia with an NRR of 4.700.
Maldives, Mongolia and Myanmar take the next three slots on the points table. Singapore are yet to play a single match in the competition.
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Kuwait secure big wins on opening day
In the first match of the day, Malaysia batted first and amassed 203/3 from 20 overs courtesy of a 46-ball 72 from opener Zubaidi Zulkifle. Captain Syed Aziz also scored 59 runs from 43 balls before Sharvin Muniandy and Aqeel Wahid made quick 20s at the death.
Later in the game, Malaysia bowlers Sharvin Muniandy (2/7), Rizwan Haider (1/11) and Syed Aziz (1/10) collectively restricted the Maldives to just 109/6 to secure a huge 94-run win.
In Bangi, Myanmar made just 50/7 despite batting out their entire 20 overs. Ko Ko Lin Thu top-scored with 15 while number three batter Thuya Aung consumed 48 deliveries to score just 12 runs. For Hong Kong, Anas Khan and Yasim Murtaza picked up two wickets each in the innings and they were ably assisted by Nasrulla Rana (1/2) and Nizakat Khan (1/2).
In response, Hong Kong chased down their 51-run target in just 4.3 overs with nine wickets in hand. Wicketkeeper-batter Zeeshan Ali made 18 of those runs from eight deliveries.
In match three of the competition, Kuwait posted 210/8 with openers Ravija Sandaruwan (32-ball 57) and Clinto Velokkaran (42-ball 75) making blistering half-centuries. For Mongolia, captain Luvsanzundui Erdenebulgan picked up two wickets alongside Turmunkh Tumursukh (2/31) and Temuulen Amarmend (2/33).
Chasing 211, the Mongolia line-up folded for just 50 in 18.3 overs, with Shiraz Khan (3/8), Mohammed Aslam (2/6) and Nawaf Ahmed (2/10) leading the bowling charts for Kuwait.
