Malaysia put up a fight as Associates fail to reach medal round in Asian Games

Malaysia stretched Bangladesh to the limit but lost their Asian Games quarter-final match by a slender margin of two runs as the last hope of an Associate nation making it to the semi-final of Asian Games fizzled out in Hangzhou.

Earlier, India had beaten a fighting Nepal by 23 runs in the first quarter-final while Pakistan went past Hong Kong by 68 runs in the second quarter-final.

Both Nepal and Hong Kong put up good fight in their matches against the Asian powerhouses. However, they fell short.

After India had scored 202/4 in 20 overs, Nepal got to 179/9 in 20 overs. While India’s total depended on a 49-ball 100 by Yashasvi Jaiswal (8x4s, 7x6s) and a 15-ball 37 from Rinku Singh, none of the Nepalese batsmen could go on to make a big score. Their highest was 32 off 15 balls by Dipendra Airee with four sixes.

In the second quarter-final, Pakistan trudged to 160 all out in 20 overs as the Hong Kong bowlers did well to restrict them.

Aamer Jamal scored 41 off 16 balls at No. 9 to save them the embarrassment after they were reduced to 73/6 in 12.3 overs and then 126/8 in 18.3 overs.

However, the Pakistan bowling attack was too good against the amateur Hong Kong team who were shot out for 92 in 18.5 overs.

The match to watch out for was between Bangladesh and Malaysia.

The Malaysians had done well to restrict Bangladesh to 116/5 in 20 overs. All the bowlers except Vijay Unni, who went for over nine an over, bowled tightly.

While chasing, Malaysia had the game completely in their grasp. They needed just 10 runs off the last 12 balls with four wickets in hand and then five off the last over with three wickets in hand.

But Bangladesh kept their nerve to win the match as Malaysia ended at 114/8 in 20 overs. Virandeep Singh was the top-scorer with 52 off 39 balls.

Bangladeshi top international Afif Hossain took 3/11 while Ripon Mondal claimed 3/14.

In the remaining quarter-final, which was third in the schedule, Afghanistan defeated defending champions Sri Lanka by eight runs.

Cricket, Asian Games, Malaysia, Nepal, Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh