Web Posted on Sun. 19th Feb. 2006
In a keenly contested match played at the Kuwait Entertainment City ground, Bahrain overcame a stiff challenge from Saudi Arabia to win their first match by a margin of 37 runs. Electing to bat first, Bahrain lost openers Mirza Ashraf & Fahd Sadiq as both were bowled by Farooq. Bahrain were in trouble as Asghar Majid & Mohd Yakoob were back in the pavilion.
One drop bat, Abdul Waheed was the man to pull Bahrain out of the woods as he & Tahir Dar joined together & put their heads down to steady the Bahrain innings. Abdul Waheed rocked back and pulled with power and in the next over executed two beautiful cover drives to bring the fifty partnership. Abdul Waheed, a technical sound player played some flowing drives and tore the Saudi attack to all parts of the ground and was dismissed for 93 runs by Hidayath. Tariq Dar was more composed and Mohd Qamar gave him good support with 20 runs. Tariq scored a splendid 67 runs. Bahrain at the end of 50 overs scored 249 runs. Hidayath & Farooq were the most successful Saudi bowlers with 3 wickets each. Shehzad, Khalid & Fahd got a wicket each.
Chasing 249 runs to win, Saudi openers Hidayath & Shahabaz produced a blistering attack as they went for a leather hunt. Both were compact and Hidayath in particular lofted the ball over the inner circle to score a quick fire 37 runs. Shahabaz was equally good and challenged the Bahrain bowlers with some hefty hits to the fence. Shahabaz was soon caught by Yakoob for a handsome 47 runs and then it was Sohrab’s turn to exhibit his masterly drives and flicks. Fahd joined Sohrab and both mixed solid defense with good attacking shots. Sohrab was severe on anything pitched short & Fahd’s two rasping drives through mid wicket was of real class. In order to catch up the required run rate, Sohrab departed first after scoring a well deserved 39 runs and soon Fahd followed with a polished knock of 32 runs. Ghayoor was the only Saudi batsman to put some spirited attack but soon the tail were polished off by Tahir as Saudi were all out for 212 runs. Asghar 3/35, Fahd 2/29, Tahir 2/47 & Asharaf 2/18 were the leading wicket takers for Bahrain.
