Singapore defeats Saudi Arabia to gain a consolation victory

Saudi Arabia Vs Singapore

In the match played at AA Shah Stadium Karachi, Saudi Arabia won the toss and elected to bat. Not being able to face the onslaught of Singapore's speedsters Zeeshan Raza Zaidi and Maxim Mok Kal Yuen, Saudia lost 5 wickets for only 23 runs. In 18 overs, they were 58 for 5 with Basit Butt (21) and Gebrael Rana (9) at the crease.

Basit Butt who played a valiant innings of 46 including 3 fours was the only batsman to thrash the Singapore bowlers. Except for Gabrael Rana (15) and Junaid Hasham (10) rest of the batsmen just surrendered.

Saudi Arabia was all out for 121 runs in 35.3 overs. Zeeshan Raza claimed 3 wickets for 30, while the remaining wickets were evenly shared.

Singapore innings

Facing a moderate target of 122 runs, Singapore secured it for the loss of 5 wickets in 32.3 overs. Opening the innings with Nishant Balakrishnan (5) and Anand Santhanam (20) Singapore lost 2 wickets for 34 runs on the board. Siddharth Verma (34) and Zeng Renchun (29 not out) who came to bat later played brilliantly to take their team to victory. Yasir Butt grabbed 2 wickets for 22 runs.

In an easy march to the target, Singapore defeated Saudi Arabia by 5 wickets. By achieving its first victory in the tournament Singapore saved itself the humiliation of falling in the group of teams with no points on the table. It provides Singapore with a consolation victory.