Kuwait Beat Bhutan by 8 Wickets — Yasin Patel's 4 for 12 and Sandaruwan's Five Sixes Settle It in 26 Balls

Bhutan came to Selangor Turf Club a day after losing six wickets for seven runs against Qatar, and you could see what they had decided: this time they would bat the overs. They did, all twenty of them. The trouble was that the runs did not follow. Tshering Tashi used 41 balls for 16, Namgang Chejay's 20 was the top score, and Bhutan finished on 74 for 9 with four boundaries in the whole innings. Yasin Patel took 4 for 12, and Clinto Anto stumped three of them.

Kuwait's reply lasted 26 balls. Ravija Sandaruwan hit five sixes in an unbeaten 40 from 11, and Kuwait won by 8 wickets, with 94 balls remaining.

Yasin Patel's four overs against Myanmar the day before had cost six runs and brought him no wicket. Here the reward came. He bowled Tenjin Rabgey in the second over and had Sonam Chophel stumped by Clinto Anto in the fourth, and Bhutan were 11 for 2. Then, with the innings all but done, he returned for the 20th over and had Gakul Ghalley and Anand Mongar stumped off consecutive balls. Four for 12 with a maiden, and Anto with three stumpings and a catch behind the stumps.

In between, Adnan Idrees broke the one stand that threatened, 29 from 47 balls between Tashi and Chejay, by having both caught, Tashi by Mohammed Aslam and Chejay by Meet Bhavsar. Aslam took two of his own in the 19th over, Bhavsar had Ranjung Mikyo Dorji caught behind, and no Kuwait bowler conceded more than 4.75 an over.

The chase was something else. Sandaruwan and Idrees took 39 off the first 15 balls. Idrees was lbw to Thinley Jamtsho and Bilal Tahir was caught behind off Tashi Phuntsho, but Sandaruwan kept going, and Anto arrived to hit two sixes from his three balls. Kuwait hit nine sixes and three fours in 26 deliveries. Against Myanmar they had needed 24 balls for 37; here they needed 26 for 78.

There is a kind of courage in batting out twenty overs when the top order has gone, and Bhutan showed it. Tshering Tashi was there until the 11th over, Chejay hit the only six of the top order, and Thinley Jamtsho was 12 not out at the end having faced 18 balls. But 74 from 120 balls, with two fours and two sixes, is not a total that asks a question of anyone, and Kuwait answered it inside five overs.

The bowlers had 74 to defend and lasted 26 balls, which is no reflection on them. Jamtsho did trap Idrees lbw and Phuntsho had Tahir caught behind by Tashi. Bhutan have now lost to Qatar and Kuwait on consecutive days, and a net run rate that was positive a day ago has fallen to -0.970. The batting that beat Myanmar and Mongolia earlier in the week has gone quiet, and they have one match left to find it.

Kuwait chose to field, as they had against Myanmar. The scorecard gives us two innings that could hardly be more different: Bhutan scored at 3.70 an over for 20 overs, Kuwait at 18 an over for four and a bit. Three stumpings and a bowled dismissal suggest Bhutan's batters were drawn forward and beaten; nine sixes in the chase suggest the surface was not the obstacle. On this evidence, the gap on the day was between the two sides, not in the pitch.

Four overs, a maiden, 12 runs, four wickets, and a neat symmetry to them: two at the top of the innings, two off consecutive balls in the final over. Three of the four were stumpings, which tells you where Patel was pitching it and how well Anto was reading him. A day earlier Patel had bowled four overs for six against Myanmar and had nothing to show for it beyond a run out and a catch. Cricket does not always pay its debts so promptly. On this afternoon it did.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

Kuwait have now completed their six group matches and sit top of Qualifier A on ten points, with a net run rate of +5.775. Bahrain, also on ten, have a game in hand and can still finish above them. Qatar are third on seven points from five after their no result against Mongolia, with Thailand and Bhutan on four apiece from five. Neither Thailand nor Bhutan can reach seven from their one remaining match, so Qatar cannot be caught for third on points.

Bhutan's net run rate of -0.970 now sits behind Thailand's +1.466, and their last game is about fourth place and a better note to finish on. Mongolia have one point and Myanmar none.