Saudi Arabia beat Qatar by seven wickets on Saturday in their second Group A fixture of the ACC Premier Cup 2023 in Nepal.
The national cricket team lost their opening match against Malaysia by eight wickets on Thursday. Their win against Qatar leaves Saudi Arabia in fourth place in the group standings after two rounds of matches. Nepal lead the table with four points, with Malaysia and Oman in second and third on two points each. Qatar remain in fifth and last spot with no points.
“Saudi Arabia stun Qatar to pick up their first win in the tournament! Seamers Istiaq and Atif starred with the ball and Abdul Waheed batted out of his skin – scoring 124 runs off just 108 balls to help Saudi Arabia to a 7-wicket victory,” tweeted the ACC after the victory.
Saudi Arabia won the toss, and elected to field first.
The Qatari batsmen were bowled out for a total of 216. Mohammed Tanveer was top scorer with 46, with opener Kamran Khan contributing 36 and captain Mohammed Rizlan 28. Ishtiaq Ahmad had the best bowling spell for the men in green with four wickets in 9.5 overs at cost of 46 runs.
The Saudi top order proceeded to reach 220 in 34.2 overs for the loss of only three wickets.
Abdul Waheed was top scorer for Saudi Arabia with 124 runs, with Waqar Ul-Hassan next on 55. Captain Hisham Sheikh chipped in with 21 runs.
Qatar’s Ikramullah Khan, who bowled five overs, was successful in taking two Saudi wickets for 28 runs, while Khurram Shahzad claimed the other wicket for two runs.
In their remaining group-stage matches the Saudis will face Nepal on April 24 and Oman on April 26. The teams in Group B are the UAE, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Singapore and Bahrain.
“We have a lot of talent and we have the skillset. We will go match by match and then based on that situation, we will look into the scenario later on in the tournament,” Saudi captain Hisham Sheikh told Arab News before the match with Qatar.
“We don’t take any team easily.”
Saudi Arabia’s emergence in the Asian cricket circuit is quite new and the team’s rise has been a significant one. Associate nations rose their eyebrows when Saudis outplayed all the opponents on the course to win the ACC Men’s Challenger Cup held in Thailand in late February, by which they qualified for the ACC Men’s Premier Cup in Nepal, which is the second tier of the qualifier pathway for the Asia Cup.
As the team will take on the host, Nepal, on Monday, Sheikh expects a huge turnout and says the team is already looking forwards the game.
“That is one experience our boys are always waiting for because we haven’t seen such atmosphere and spectators before this,” he said.
“I’ve already told my boys to enjoy the game and take it with their chins up.”
Experts and cricket fans are thrilled. Irish commentator Andrew Leonard told Arab News he was excited about the talent and plans in place in the Saudi cricket scenario.
“I had a big, long chat to head coach Kabir Khan before the start of the tournament and I think the word ‘sleeping giant’ would be a good way to describe them,” he said. “A number of other sports have seen heavy investment and there’s lots of talk that that is going to be the the case for cricket going forward.”
The Saudis are ranked 33rd in the World T20I rankings. The International Cricket Council’s move to award T20I status to all member nations has seen an increase in cricketing activity among associate members. This and the Saudi government’s positive approach in developing the game, is helping its cricket move forward.
“They’ve got a long-term plan in place. They’re bringing cricket into the schools and they want to develop it over,” Leonard said. “It’s generational. You build up a good generation of cricketers and then you reap the rewards in 10 to 15 years.”
The ACC Premier Cup, which started on April 18 and concludes on May 1, is an integral part of the Asian Cricket Council’s new pathway structure, acting as a final qualification stage for the 2023 Asia Cup in Pakistan, itself a preparatory competition for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India.
The 16th edition of the Asia Cup in September will be contested by six teams, with the five full members of the ACC — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka — being joined by the winners of the ACC Premier Cup.