Vijay and Virandeep all-round show drives comfortable Malaysia win |
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20/03/2023POSTED BY Malaysian Cricket Association Admin |
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Vijay Unni’s spell of one for 12 in ten overs helped Malaysia limit Hong Kong ‘A’ to 220 for eight before his composed 50* (75) propelled them to the target with 2.2 overs to spare. Virandeep Singh also shone with figures of two for 32 to go with his patient 65* (109) in the second innings. After winning the toss and choosing to bowl, Malaysia had a rough first over with Wafiq Irfan straying down the leg side to gift the opposition five wides on two separate occasions. Irfan, however, found his radar, getting a ball to jump on opener Martin Coetzee who fended it straight to Khizar Hayat at gully. Building on the dot ball pressure built up by Unni, Irfan would go onto trap Raag Kapur in front to reduce Hong Kong ‘A’ to 48 for 2 in the 17th over. Unni then turned the screws on Hong Kong, conceding a mere three runs in his final six overs, bowling Hong Kong ‘A’ skipper Scott McKechnie in the process. Waqas Khan could not trouble the scorers, chipping Fitri Sham straight into the hands of Zubaidi in the covers. After scoring 27 off his first 55 balls, Zeeshan Ali stepped into overdrive, lofting Sharvin Muniandy down the ground for three sixes in an over that cost 28 runs. Even after losing Luke Jones, who was trapped LBW by an Amir Azim arm ball from around the wicket, Ali continued to pepper the extra cover region, bringing up his century in 114 balls. Yet, after Ali was caught at cover by Ahmad Faiz off the bowling of Virandeep, Malaysia were able to pull things back and restrict the home side to a below par total. Chasing 221 for victory, Malaysia got off to a steady start before Amir Azim charged down to Ateeq Iqbal and drilled him through the covers for the team’s first boundary. Ahmad Zubaidi got in on the act, lofting Ateeq Iqbal down the ground for four followed by a maximum that crashed into the sightscreen to propel Malaysia to 51 after nine overs. Leg spinner Mohammad Ghazanfar gave Hong Kong a small opening when he bowled Zubaidi who missed an attempted sweep shot. Soon after reaching his 50, Azim top edged a Raag Kapur bouncer to keeper Scott McKechnie to leave Malaysia 112 for two in the 23rd over. In spite of this, with the required rate barely rising above four runs an over and Virandeep and Unni playing intelligent cricket, Malaysia cantered to victory with 14 deliveries to spare. Unni was awarded player-of-the-match for his all-round exploits. Brief Scores Malaysia 223 for 2 in 47.4 Overs (Virandeep 65*, Unni 50*, Ghazanfar 1-34) beat Hong Kong ‘A’ 220 for 8 in 50 Overs (Zeeshan Ali 107, Wafiq 3-52, Virandeep 2-32) by 8 wickets with 2.2 overs to spare |
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