Bahrain Beat Kuwait by 6 Wickets — Asif Ali's 89 Settles the Battle of the Unbeaten

When two unbeaten sides meet, you hope for a match that lives up to the billing. This one did. Kuwait, three from three and fresh from bowling Thailand out for 60, posted 188. Bahrain, also three from three, chased it with four balls left, and the man who made it possible did not quite see it through to the end.

Asif Ali made 89 from 48 balls and was run out in the 19th over with Bahrain 180 for 4. Ahmer Bin Nasir and Imran Anwar took them home in the next two balls. Bahrain won by 6 wickets, with 4 balls remaining.

Bahrain's win began with the ball, even though Kuwait made 188. Ali Dawood's four overs cost 14 runs in a match where 377 were scored, and he took three wickets: Clinto Anto early, then Ali Zaheer and Meet Bhavsar in the 19th over. Imran Khan removed Adnan Idrees early and came back to end Muhammad Umar's innings. Kuwait were 167 for 3 when Umar fell in the 18th over, and three wickets went down for four runs, slowing them just as they were set to launch.

The chase was built in three partnerships, each with Asif Ali at one end. Fiaz Ahmed helped him add 57, Junaid Aziz 45 from 29 balls, and Ahmer Bin Nasir 57 from 30. When Ali was run out by Meet Bhavsar and Anudeep Chenthamara off the last ball of the 19th over, nine were needed from seven balls. Imran Anwar faced two balls and scored eight, including a six, and it was done.

Kuwait will feel this one. At 59 for 3 in the ninth over, the innings needed someone, and Muhammad Umar was that someone. He hit seven sixes in his 78 from 38 balls and, with Ali Zaheer's steadier 44 from 32, added 108 from 55 balls for the fourth wicket. Bilal Tahir's 16 not out from seven balls at the end kept the total moving.

With the ball, Adnan Idrees took 2 for 23 and Yasin Patel 1 for 22, both across four overs. The other bowlers found it harder against a batter in Asif Ali's form. It is Kuwait's first defeat in four games, and they remain second with six points and the best net run rate in the group.

Bahrain chose to field in the morning at the YSD-UKM Cricket Oval, which put the pressure of a big total on their batters. On a surface where 377 runs were scored and 20 sixes were hit across both innings, the bowlers who succeeded kept it tight rather than looked for wickets. Dawood went at 3.5 an over, and Idrees and Patel kept it under six. Anyone who strayed paid for it.

Chasing 189 against the side top of the table, Asif Ali came in after Prashant Kurup fell in the second over and stayed until the chase was all but won. He hit ten fours and four sixes, and his 89 came from 48 balls. What stands out is how he shared the work: three partners, three partnerships worth 45 or more, with Ali the constant in all of them.

Some innings win you a match; this one also took Bahrain clear at the top of the group. He missed his hundred and missed seeing the winning runs from the middle, but the scorecard has the last word: Bahrain, four from four.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview, so there is no prediction to review.

After 12 matches in Qualifier A, Bahrain are clear at the top with eight points from four games and a net run rate of +1.796. Kuwait are second with six points from four (+4.277). Bhutan and Qatar have four points each from three games, Thailand two from four, and Myanmar and Mongolia are still looking for a first win.

Both sides play again on October 11. Bahrain face Mongolia at the Selangor Turf Club, and Kuwait play Myanmar at Bayuemas Oval.