Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Sports Reporter
PAPUA New Guinea cricket Assadollah Vala blasted 93 runs to deny Uganda qualification for the semi-finals of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier at Bulawayo Athletic Club yesterday.
The Southwestern Pacific Island nation successfully chased Uganda’s score of 160 runs with 20 balls to spare and eight wickets in hand.
This means Papa New Guinea and Uganda both sit on two points and go into the last group matches tomorrow needing a win to join Netherlands from the group in the last four.
Uganda now have the mammoth task of trying to pull a shocker against one of tournament’s favourites Netherlands and hope that Hong Kong does the same against Papua New Guinea to make the last four.
In the event that the two teams fail to win, the net run rate will determine who joins Netherlands in the semi-finals.
But the odds are now heavily staked against Uganda after yesterday’s loss.
Papua New Guinea skipper Vala was involved in a third-wicket partnership of 132 runs with Sese Bau, who scored 41.
Vala said the dressing room was buzzing and they will take the match against Hong Kong in their stride.
“We are really happy that we got to bounce back from yesterday’s (Monday) loss to the Netherlands. What we did today showed a lot of character, as we tried chasing the same total yesterday, but faced a quality attack,” said Vala.
“We are not thinking about the final game yet. We will go to the hotel and soak in the win and prepare for the next game,” he said.
Uganda captain Kenneth Waiswa said they were not under pressure to win the game against Netherlands.
In the earlier game, a maiden five-wicket haul by fast bowler Saurabh Netralvalkar helped United States of America skittle out Singapore for a paltry 69 runs in 15.2 runs to win by a massive 132 runs and qualify for the semi-finals.
Batting first, USA scored 201/6 and then put Singapore to the sword from the first over in the chase.
Netralvalkar took five wickets from his four overs, conceding just 12 runs in a man-of-the-match performance.
Top order batsman Steven Taylor scored 58 runs made up of two sixes and seven fours, and was well complemented by middle order batsman Jaskaran Malhorta with 58 runs in which he smashed four sixes and two fours.
Netralvalkar took three wickets in his first over, with the first two coming off the first two balls and the third off the last ball.
He claimed the wickets of Rohan Rangarajan (5), Aman Desai (0), Manpreet Singh (0), Amjab Mahboob (2) and Surendran Chandramohan (3).
Netralvalkar said it was a proud moment for him. “It’s always a proud moment every time I enter the field and represent USA. I never expected to get a five-wicket haul in a T20, but I’m happy that my hard work is paying off,” said Netralvalkar.
“The wicket was on the slower side, so my plan was to bowl within the stumps using good hard lengths and try to vary with the slower leg cutters. There was a little grip and I wanted to stick to the basics and bowl in good areas.” — Follow on Twitter @bonganinkunzi
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