Brilliant Barkat leads Hong Kong into semi-finals

Waqas Barkat became Hong Kong's first T20 centurion and the tournament's leading run-scorer as Hong Kong smashed Maldives by 153 runs at the ACC Twenty20 Cup 2013 in Kathmandu today. The win guarantees Hong Kong a semi-final berth at the tournament and almost certain qualification for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier to be played in Dubai later this year.

Batting first after being inserted by the Maldives skipper, Irfan Ahmed and Waqas Barkat got Hong Kong off to another powerful start but this time it was Barkat who was the more aggressive of the two batsmen. The pair notched a 50-partnership off the six-over powerplay before Irfan was caught out for 16 off 11-balls. Skipper Jamie Atkinson produced his best effort of the tournament with 19 from 13 balls but when he was bowled in the 11th over, Hong Kong had already put 96 runs on the board. Nizakat Khan continued the momentum with 18 from 12 balls but he fell with the score on 134 after 15 overs and the run-rate at just under nine runs per over.

But Barkat and Kruger weren't done and a scintillating 59-run partnership between the pair off just 27 balls powered Hong Kong to 193 midway through the 19th over when Barkat was run out for a superb 109 scored from 71 balls including 14 fours and one six. Kruger finished unbeaten on 20 off 13 balls to see Hong Kong through to an impressive 4-198 off their 20 overs.

The Maldives needed a strong reply and they got off to a good start with 8 runs coming off Tanwir Afzal's first over. But they were soon on the backfoot as Irfan Ahmed struck with his first ball which started a sequence that saw wickets fall in the next six overs as the Maldives batsmen had no answers to Hong Kong's pacemen. Hassan Haziq hit three successive fours off Irfan, but the Hong Kong speedster got his man with the next ball to send the Maldives into a tailspin.

From 2-29, the Maldives crashed to 45 all out in just ten overs. Irfan and Tanwir grabbed three wickets each while Karan Shah wrapped up the innings with a double-wicket maiden in an over that also included a run-out.

Scorecard Summary: Hong Kong 4-198 from 20 overs (Waqas Barkat 109) beat Maldives 45 from 10 overs (Tanwir Afzal 3-21, Irfan Ahmed 3-22) by 153 runs [Scorecard]

Hong Kong's last match of the group stage is against the winless Singapore at the Engineering Ground on 30th March 2013. Hong Kong will look to finish with another victory so that they top Pool A and avoid a match against the top placed team from Group B. The semi-finals will be played on 2nd April 2013.

The only disappointing news for Hong Kong has been the loss of Daljeet Singh due to injury. The 18- year-old has returned to Hong Kong after being struck in the mouth by a cricket ball while training after the Nepal match. Singh has been replaced in the squad by Adil Mehmood.