Malaysia made a fine start towards securing a spot in the next qualifying stage for the 2020 Twenty20 World Cup after beating Kuwait by 42 runs at the Asian Regional Finals in Singapore on Monday.
Syahadat Ramli paved the way to victory with a three-wicket haul as Kuwait were dismissed for 120 runs in 18 overs after Malaysia reached 162 in 20 overs as Syed Aziz Syed Mubarak starred with both bat and ball.
Syed Aziz was rewarded with the man-of-the-match award after scoring 34 runs and picking up two wickets after being given the responsibility to open the bowling for Malaysia at the Indian Association ground.
The win was World No 35 Malaysia’s first win over 28th-ranked Kuwait in 19 years in any format and a first in a T20 match after two previous defeats in 2009 and 2015 – both at the ACC Twenty20 Cup.
Syed Aziz, Pavandeep Singh and Fitri Sham weighed in with two wickets each as Kuwait never recovered from losing three wickets in the first three overs.
Syed Aziz repaid the faith placed in him with the wicket of Ravija Sandaruwan with his third delivery before Pavandeep and Fitri struck in successive overs to reduce Kuwait to 22-3.
Although Muhammad Kashif and Usman Waheed helped Kuwait rebound with a 60-run stand, they were always below the required run-rate and Kashif’s dismissal for 51 by Syed Aziz just one ball after reaching his half-century left Kuwait at 98-6.
Syahadat then wiped away the tail with three wickets in five balls in the 18th over to secure victory with 12 balls to spare.
Earlier, Syed Aziz, Shafiq Sharif and Aminuddin Ramly put a cautious start by Malaysia behind them as they swung freely at the Kuwaiti bowlers.
Anwar Arudin was bowled for eight by Kashif in the third over after opting to bat on winning the toss before fellow opener Virandeep Singh was run out for 17 to leave Malaysia at 47-2 with eight overs gone.
That brought Syed Aziz, the scorer of a 50 against Nepal in his last outing, and Shafiq together in a 40-run stand before the former fell for 34 off 28 balls after hitting a six and four fours. Shafiq followed after stroking six boundaries from 27 deliveries for 38 runs to take Malaysia to 116-4.
A swashbuckling Aminuddin made a quick-fire 33 off just 12 balls after smashing four sixes and a four to take the run-rate to above eight but his exit, after being run out going for a second run, led to Malaysia losing five wickets in the last 10 balls of the innings.
Earlier, Singapore limited Qatar to 153-9 to win by 33 runs in the tournament’s opening match after Janak Prakash and Amjad Mahboob claimed three wickets each.
Surendran Chandramohan topscored with 47 runs as Singapore reached 186-7 while Qatar bowler Iqbal Hussian finished with 4-33.
On Tuesday, World No 11 Nepal open their campaign against Qatar while Singapore take on Kuwait. Malaysia return to action on Wednesday against Nepal.
Only the winner of the five-team tournament will advance to the T20 World Cup Global Qualifier to be held in the United Arab Emirates on Oct 11-Nov 3.
BRIEF SCORES
Malaysia 162 in 20 overs (Shafiq Sharif 38, Syed Aziz 34, Aminuddin Ramly 33, Mohammad Ahsan 2-31)
Kuwait 120 in 18 overs (Muhammad Kashif 51, Syahadat Ramli 3-33, Fitri Sham 2-14, Pavandeep Singh 2-19, Syed Aziz 2-33).
Result: Malaysia won by 42 runs