Cricket: Bahrain rout Bhutan to seal spot in semi-finals – Gulf Digital News

Cricket: Bahrain rout Bhutan to seal spot in semi-finals – Gulf Digital News

Captain Aryan Ashwin scored a fluent half-century and spin twins Shashank Shukla and Nadith Tennakoon combined to pick up seven wickets as Bahrain beat Bhutan by 169 runs yesterday in their second Group A match of the eight-team 2024 ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Asia Division 2 Qualifier at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman.

Bahrain’s comfortable win – their second in two games – means that they have qualified for the semi-finals from their group, along with hosts Oman, who defeated Saudi Arabia by six wickets, also yesterday, for their second successive triumph.

Batting first after Ashwin won the toss, Bahrain notched up 244 for nine in their allotted 50 overs with their captain top-scoring with 56.

Needing 245 to win, Bhutan crumbled to 75 all out in 33.1 overs. Left-arm spinner Shukla was the chief destroyer, finishing with 4-25 off his 10 overs. Leg-spinner Tennekoon added to Bhutan’s torment, picking up 3-23 off 5.1 overs.

Bahrain and Oman, level on four points each, will now meet tomorrow in the final Group A match with the winner heading to the top of the table and the losing team securing second place.

Two teams from Group B, which features Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand