Man of the Match Malaysia's Kamarul Azhar

A solid, uncompromising performance by Malaysia saw them beat Qatar by 55 runs to reach the Final of the ACC U-17 Elite Cup, where they will take on home side Nepal.

"Our target from the start was to reach the Final, we've prepared hard and have a team good enough to go all the way," said Malaysia's coach Haris Abu Baker.

Malaysia were good in all departments, a near-flawless performance in the field led by their spinners, following a steady performance by their batsmen in setting Qatar a target of 172.

©Bijay Rai/myrepublica.com

Malaysia's Zubair Borazmi passes Qatar's Tamoor Sajjad with a scorching drive

Malaysia's feisty little wicket-keeping opener Zubair Norazmi can count himself unlucky not to win the Man of the Match award. His pugnacious 44 and work behind the stumps caught the eye as did the batting of Keithan Goonasageran and Ahmad Adnan later. They ran well between the wickets with their partners and played some sublime strokes on occasion. They kept getting out just at the time when they could have really put Qatar on the rack. 171 was about 20 runs below par on the wicket but it proved to be enough.

Qatar are a team of fighters but in these conditions – a slow track of variable bounce – their batsmen just weren't able to cope. They have some pedigree bats and one star, captain Tamoor Sajjad. He'd scored close to 180 runs in three innings at a run a ball up to this game. But he failed today, charging down the wicket early in his innings and as his manager Gul Khan Jadoon, "we rely too much on Tamoor."

When he was out in the 21st over, Qatar's required run-rate was close to 5.5 an over and no one was able to push on. Malaysia fielded superbly on a bumpy outfield, attacking at every opportunity, demonstrating a significant difference between the sides.

©Bijay Rai/myrepublica.com

Qatar's Faisal Rehman is beaten by Malaysia's Bakri Zulkifeli

"Our plan was to contain the batsmen with our spinners," said Malaysia's captain Goonasageran afterwards, "wickets were a bonus." Kamarul Azhar bowled his slow left-arm particularly well. Unbeaten so far, Malaysia have got mastery of local conditions and a sound limited overs strategy. Winning the competition – against Nepal and 5000 partisan fans at Tribhuvan University Ground - is not beyond them.

ACC U-17 Elite Cup
SF 2: Malaysia v Qatar at Engineering College
MALAYSIA WON BY 55 RUNS
Qatar won the toss and elected to field\
Malaysia: 171 off 39.1 overs (Z.Norazmi 44, A.Adnan 30)
Qatar: 116 off 33 overs (T.Muhammed 31; K.Azhar 4-20)
Man of the Match: Kamarul Azhar 4-20
Scorecard

Tournament Page

Filed February 10, 2009