Singapore, Japan through to semi-finals of ACC Men's Challenger Cup

From what turned out to be a very closely-contested Group B, Singapore and Japan entered the semi-finals of the ACC Men’s Challenger Cup 2024 with the former setting up a clash with Cambodia and the latter slated to play Saudi Arabia. Both the matches will be played on February 9 at the TerdThai Cricket Ground in Bangkok, where the T20 tournament is taking place.

Tuesday (February 6) saw Singapore beating Japan by 34 runs and Thailand walloping Maldives by eight wickets. But despite their convincing win that brought them to four points, equal with Japan and Singapore, Thailand failed to proceed due to inferior net run rate (NRR). Singapore’s net run rate is 1.015 while Japan’s is 0.9. Thailand ended with an NRR of 0.81.

Maldives ended point-less without a single win.

In the Singapore-Japan tie, the former scored 176/5 in 20 overs with right-handed batsman Anish Paraam making 92 not out. Captain and opener Aritra Dutta hit 39 off 34 balls. Left-arm spinner Piyush Kumbhare was the most successful bowler with 2/13 in four overs. In response, Japan were restricted to 142/8 in 20 overs with opener Lachlan Yamamoto Lake hitting 35 off 27 balls. Paraam, also a left-arm spinner, took 2/21 in four overs.

In the Thailand-Madives game, the Thai players did well to restrict Maldives to 127/7 in 20 overs. Left-arm spinner Nopphon Senamontree took 2/16 in four overs. Wicketkeeper-opener Akshaykumar Yadav hit an unbeaten 28-ball 66 to help Thailand reach the target in 9.4 overs.

While the semis are slated for February 9 (Friday), the 5th place playoff between Indonesia and Thailand, and the seventh place playoff between Bhutan and Maldives is scheduled to be played on February 7 (Wednesday).

Cricket, T20, ACC Men's Challenger Cup, Japan, Singapore, Asian Cricket