ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia A Qualifier
Maldives v Kuwait
Kuwait won by 5 wickets.
Maldives put forward a spirited performance against a very capable and energetic Kuwait.
Batting first, Maldives Ahmed Hassan hit 5 boundaries and 2 maximums reaching a tournament top score of 42 runs from 38 deliveries.
Adam Nasif 12 and Hassan Ibrahim 11 helped push the Maldives total onto 103 all out from exactly 20 Overs. Adnan Idrees the pick of the Kuwaiti bowlers with 3 wickets for 17 runs.
In reply, Adam Nasif again struck in the first over of the match, as he had done in previous matches, another wicket fell in the 4th over and some were thinking ‘is it Maldives day today’.
The Maldives spinners had a good look at the batsmen and Rizan took 1 and captain Mahfooz added to his record of wickets taken for his country with 2 in consecutive balls – both caught in the deep by Adam Nasif.
Kuwait batsman Edson Daisy Silva played a powerful innings scoring 58 from just 29 balls. Although he too made his way back to the pavilion before the target was reached in the 12th Over. Kuwait reaching 107 for the loss of 5 wickets.
This was the last match for Maldives in this competition and many positives can be taken from the preparations, team building and individual performances as the squad sets targets and constructively plans for 2022.
The stand-out Maldives player of the tournament was the young and impressive all-rounder Adam Nasif. Since making his senior debut in 2015, Adam has improved year after year and is one of the first names on the team sheet for club and country.
In this tournament he has taken key wickets with his blend of off-spin and deceptive speeds. With bat in hand, he is the only player with a strike rate of above 100 (more than 1 run per ball).
The Cricket Board of Maldives wishes to thank the ICC Officials for the opportunities and support afforded to our players and officials. We thank the respective boards of the participating nations, and the Qatar Cricket Officials, members and cricketing community that have all come together to make this tournament happen.
Lastly, the Cricket Board of Maldives thanks the players and their families for their unwavering support and patience to each other during the past COVID-19 affected 18 months of no competetive cricket and limited opportunities to practice together as a team – without the players there simply is no cricket in our nation.
Tournament stats can be found at ESPNcricinfo
Full Cricket Board of Maldives Tournament Information
