Date: 28th July 2019
Singapore summit their Mount Everest and defeat Nepal in a command victory on their way to winning the ICC World T20 Qualifiers Asia Final.
Singapore Cricket Association (SCA) hosted the ICC World T20 Qualifiers Asia Finals featuring five teams: Qatar, Kuwait, Nepal, Malaysia and Singapore. The event would result in the winners progressing to the Global Qualifiers in the UAE.
Singapore showcased her ability to host international events and SCA did the Cricket fraternity proud putting on a spectacular show of Action Packed T20 Cricket.
It was a beautiful Sunday morning and all was set for what was essentially a Grand Finale between hosts Singapore and Nepal. Both teams had great support on the park with vociferous fans cheering their heroes on and flags waving in the air.
The icing on the cake For SCA President Mr. Mahmood Gaznavi, his Exco and the CEO Saad Khan Janjua was that Singapore won the tournament undefeated against top opposition proving that the planning and the processes leading up to the tournament was astute and meticulous.
Singapore won the toss and elected to bat on a surface that looked great for batting.
Singapore Openers R Rohan (49 Off 33) and S Chandramohan (8 Off 7) took to the park looking confident and up for the challenge. However, Karan KC managed to strike in the 2nd Over separating the openers with the score only reading 10 runs.
Tim David the Singapore Star player stepped on to the park at the fall of the first wicket determined to take control of the Singapore Innings. He was due a BIG one an boy did he deliver on the BiG stage. Tim David (77 off 43) and R Rohan combined for a stinging 89 run partnership that stole the momentum and in the final equation the game away from Nepal.
Manpreet Singh (42 off 27) and Anish Param (9 off 6) finished off the Singapore innings in style taking the total to a daunting 191 for 6 in their 20 overs. No bowler was spared and the attack from the Singapore batsmen were relentless.
A Bohara Picked up 4 wickets in his spell of 4 overs and Sompal Kami was economical only conceding 15 runs in his spell of 3 overs.
Singapore batting with intent and aggression ensured that Nepal required more than 9 runs per over when they came out to chase.
The scene was set for a cracking Finale and Paras Khadka (12 off 10) the Nepal Captain announced his arrival and the intent of Nepal straight away taking 11 of the very first over. Combining with G Malla (39 off 21) they looked set to take the game away from Singapore.
Singapore Captain Amjad Mahboob (2 overs 1 for 22) stepped in and took a decisive call to bowl at this point in time; and with the very first delivery he was able to remove his counterpart Paras Khadka with a clever change of pace sending the Singapore supporters in to a frenzy and deflating the Nepal supporters as well as the Nepal Dug out.
S Vijayakumar (4 overs 4 for 25) having dropped a difficult chance off G Malla came on to bowl the 7th over and immediately made up for the dropped chance by bowling him with a ripper of an off break. The very next over the big hitting Sharad Vesawkar was caught on the long off boundary by Janak Prakash of the bowling of Anantha Krishna (3 overs 1 for 19). This catch would remain in the memory of all present and watching on live broadcast as one of the best ever grabs leaping high in to the air taking the ball single handed and landing with the boundary rope only millimetres away. Nepal were 3 for 62 and the Required RR was climbing at an alarming rate there after with the 3 main batsmen back in the dugout.
DS Airee (22 off 23) tried with great heart to launch a fight back batting with the tail but was unable to haul back the gulf that was ever widening between the runs required and the balls available.
V Baskaran (4 overs 2 for 22) and Janak Prakash (2 over 1 for 21) combined with excellent Singapore fielding ensured that Nepal were comprehensively defeated by 82 runs in the 15th over.
The Entire Singapore Dug out erupted in joy and the crowed sang out SINGAPORE…. SINGAPORE….SINGAPORE as the victorious team was given a heroes ovation.
28th of July 2019 will be remembered in Singapore’s Cricket history as the day they Summitted their Mount Everest defeating pre-tournament hot favourites Nepal.
It was a wonderful week of action packed T20 cricket that concluded with a befitting Finale as Singapore were crowned ICC World T20 Qualifiers Asia Final Champions.
