Tribune News Network
Doha
The highly awaited ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Sub Regional Qualifier B will kick-off at the refurbished ground of West End Park International Cricket Stadium in Doha on Tuesday with hosts Qatar taking on Thailand in the opening match at 9am.
Later at 12.15pm, Bhutan will meet United Arab Emirates at the UDST Cricket Ground while Bahrain will play Saudi Arabia at the West End Park International Cricket Stadium.
The qualifiers have a total of 7 teams taking part - Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan, Bahrain, Thailand, UAE and Cambodia - and will see three matches being played each day from Nov 19-28.
A total of 21 games will be played during ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Sub-regional Qualifier B. This tournament will serve as a qualification scenario for the teams participating in the event. The teams that finish in the top 2 after all of the matches will qualify for the Regional Final, where they will be joined by Nepal, Oman, and Papua New Guinea.
At the event launch press conference on Monday evening, Qatar Cricket Association’s Secretary-General Khalid Saleh Al Rumaihi welcomed the teams, officials and the media. “We are looking forward to exciting cricket from players of the seven teams over the next ten days.
“We know that all the seven teams are eager to qualify for the Regional Final and we wish all of them the very best.”
Qatar Cricket Association’s CEO Khaled Al Suwaidi was also present on the occasion and said, “We have all preparations in place with recently-laid seven pitches and international standard grounds which will surely be liked by all participants.
“We also for thee first time have teams from Bhutan and Cambodia in the tournament, and who will also be playing against Qatar for the first time. The Qatar fans would be eager to see their contests as well.”
UAE, Bahrain and hosts Qatar have the strongest chance to finish in the top 2 of the competition. However, the other teams are also spirited enough to pose a healthy challenge to the opposition teams in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Sub-regional Qualifier B.
Impact Players in each team:
Qatar - Muhammad Ikramullah, Imal Liyanage, Amir Farooq, Muhammad Jabir
Bahrain - Imran Anwer, Haider Butt, Ali Dawood and Rizwan Butt
Thailand - Jandre Coetzee, Akshaykumar Yadav, Nopphon Senamontree, Anucha Kalasi
UAE - Alishan Sharafu, Waseem Muhammad, Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer
Saudi Arabia - Abdul Waheed, Zain up Abidin, Usman Khalid, Anwar Saleem
Cambodia - Luqman Butt, Uday Hathinjar, Utkarsh Jain, Gulam Murtaza; Bhutan - Ranjung Dorji, Thinley Jamtsho, Jigme Singye, Sonam Yeshey
The Fixtures:
Tuesday, November 19, 2024: Match 1 - Qatar vs Thailand (West End Park Stadium); Match 2 - Bhutan vs United Arab Emirates (UDST Cricket Ground, Doha); Match 3 - Bahrain vs Saudi Arabia (West End Park Stadium)
Wednesday, November 20, 2024: Match 4 - Cambodia vs Thailand (West End Park); Match 5 - Qatar vs Bhutan (UDST Cricket Ground); Match 6 - Saudi Arabia vs UAE (West End Park)
Friday, November 22, 2024: Match 7 - Cambodia vs UAE (West End Park); Match 8 - Bahrain vs Thailand (UDST Cricket Ground); Match 9 - Bhutan vs Saudi Arabia (UDST Cricket Ground)
Saturday, November 23, 2024: Match 10 - Bahrain vs Bhutan (West End Park); Match 11 - Thailand vs UAE (UDST Cricket Ground); Match 12 - Qatar vs Cambodia (UDST Cricket Ground)
Monday, November 25, 2024: Match 13 - Qatar vs Bahrain (West End Park); Match 14 - Cambodia vs Saudi Arabia (UDST Cricket Ground); Match 15 - Bhutan vs Thailand (West End Park)
Tuesday, November 26, 2024: Match 16 - Saudi Arabia vs Thailand (West End Park); Match 17 - Bahrain vs Cambodia (UDST Cricket Ground); Match 18 - Qatar vs UAE (West End Park)
Thursday, November 28, 2024: Match 19 - Bhutan vs Cambodia (West End Park); Match 20 - Qatar vs Saudi Arabia (UDST Cricket Ground); Match 21 - Bahrain vs UAE (UDST Cricket Ground).
