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Sultan Ahmed on his way to 95* as Oman beat Maldives in the semi-finals of the Asian Cricket Council Challenge
© ACC
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Oman will meet Bhutan in Wednesday's final of the Asian Cricket Council Trophy Challenge in Chiang Mai after registering comprehensive wins in their semi-finals.
Bhutan provided the upset in defeating hosts Thailand by 92 runs in an unexpectedly one-sided game. Bhutan made 164 and in reply Thailand, who won all their group games, were bowled out for 72. Comments by Zeeshan Khan, Thailand's captain, after the group-stage win over Iran proved depressingly prescient. "We have a habit of just falling short on the big occasions," he admitted, and so it proved again as Dilip Subba (4 for 13) and Dampo (5 for 29) cut them to shreds.
The other semi-final went according to the form book as Oman easily beat Maldives by 102 runs. An unbeaten 95 by Sultan Ahmed formed the backbone of Oman's 240, his sixth-wicket stand of 100 with Awal Khan rescuing them from a wobbly 90 for 5. Most of the Maldives batsmen got starts but none was able to play the anchor innings and they were dismissed for 138 in the 40th over, Amir Ali polishing off the tail with 3 for 4.