Qatar Beat Bahrain by 2 Wickets off the Last Ball — Owais Ahmed's Three Wickets at 52, and a Single to Finish

Bahrain and Qatar arrived at Selangor Turf Club with their places in the Asia Regional Final already secure, which is usually the recipe for a loose, forgettable game. Instead they produced a finish as tight as the format allows. Bahrain were bowled out for 119 off the last ball of their innings; Qatar got to 120 for 8 off the last ball of theirs. Owais Ahmed took 3 for 12, Imran Anwar made 38 not out, Zeeshan Haider 32, and when Imal Liyanage, back at the crease after retiring hurt, was caught and bowled by Shujaat Rasool with one needed and one ball left, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman walked out and nudged the single.

Qatar won by 2 wickets, with no balls remaining.

Bahrain were comfortable at 52 for 1 after eight overs, Prashant Kurup and Fiaz Ahmed having added 29 after Asif Ali was caught by Zeeshan Haider off Muhammad Asim. Then Owais Ahmed bowled the ninth. Kurup was run out, Asim and Owais combining; Fiaz was caught by Zubair Ali; Junaid Aziz was bowled. Three wickets in six balls, 52 for 1 to 52 for 4, and the innings never quite recovered its shape. Owais later had Shujaat Rasool caught by Ikramullah Khan and finished with 4-1-12-3, and with Mujeeb-ur-Rehman's 4-0-11-0 alongside him, Qatar's two most economical bowlers gave away 23 runs in eight overs.

Mirza Mohammed Baig went for 27 in two overs but took two wickets in two balls in the 18th, bowling Asif Javed, who had hit two sixes in 14 from five balls, and Imran Khan next delivery. Ikramullah Khan had Abdul Majid lbw off the final ball of the innings, and Bahrain were 119 all out.

The chase began quickly, Zubair Ali hitting two fours in 12 from 6 before Ali Dawood had him caught by Asif Ali, and then slowed. Liyanage retired hurt on 7 at 52 for 1. Zeeshan Haider, the tournament's leading run-scorer, made 32 from 31 before Imran Anwar and Kurup ran him out, and Qatar slipped from 56 for 1 to 58 for 3. Muhammad Asim's 21 from 24 held the middle together, but Shahzaib Jamil was run out, Asim was caught by Imran Anwar off Dawood, and Qatar were 89 for 5 at the end of the 15th over, needing 31 from 30.

Shariq Munir hit a four and a six in 13 from 5, Daniel Louis was bowled by Imran Khan, and at 104 for 7 in the 18th over Liyanage came back out to join Ikramullah Khan with 16 needed from 14 balls. They got 15 of them. Liyanage, who had 7 when he went off, reached 17 before Shujaat Rasool caught and bowled him off the fifth ball of the last over, the scores level at 119 and one to get. Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, whose four overs had cost 11, faced one ball and scored one run off it.

Imran Anwar came in at 62 for 5 in the 13th over with the innings listing, and made 38 of the 57 runs Bahrain scored from there: 26 balls, two fours, three sixes, not out at the end. Asif Javed's two sixes in 14 from 5 helped, but the rest of the lower order went for little, the last five wickets falling for 30 from 89 for 6, and 119 felt lighter than 52 for 1 had promised. Qatar conceded a single extra in the entire innings.

Then Bahrain bowled as if the total were 150. Abdul Majid's four overs cost nine and brought the wickets of Mirza Mohammed Baig and Shariq Munir, both caught, by Asif Ali and Junaid Aziz; Asif Javed's four cost 13 without a wicket. Ali Dawood took two, Zubair Ali and Asim, and his tournament tally stands at 15, the most of any bowler in Qualifier A. Kurup had a hand in two run outs, Imran Khan bowled Louis, and Shujaat Rasool's caught-and-bowled to remove Liyanage with one ball left gave Bahrain a final delivery to defend. They could not quite hold the single. Second place on ten points was already theirs; this was about the manner of finishing, and the bowling, at least, finished well.

Qatar chose to field, and the two innings came out almost identical: 119 and 120, both using the full 20 overs, six an over near enough. Eighteen wickets fell, four of them run outs, which tells you how hard both sides were working for singles. Bahrain hit eight sixes and five fours, Qatar eight fours and two sixes, so the ball could be put away when a batter got hold of it. But the figures of Abdul Majid (4-0-9-2), Mujeeb-ur-Rehman (4-0-11-0) and Owais Ahmed (4-1-12-3) suggest accurate bowling was difficult to get away, and that par was about where both sides ended up.

A match can turn in an over, and this one turned in the ninth. Owais Ahmed had Prashant Kurup run out with Muhammad Asim, had Fiaz Ahmed caught by Zubair Ali, and bowled Junaid Aziz: three wickets in six balls, and a side that had been 52 for 1 was 52 for 4. He later added Shujaat Rasool and finished with 4-1-12-3, a maiden among them. Qatar won off the last ball, and in a game that close the runs Owais did not concede mattered as much as the wickets he took. Both sides were through before the game began; he made sure Qatar went through with a win.

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

The result confirms the order of the three qualifiers. Kuwait, who completed their matches two days ago, finish top on ten points with a net run rate of +5.775; Bahrain finish second, also on ten, despite this defeat; Qatar finish third on nine, the odd number the product of a no result earlier in the week. All three progress to the 2027 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Regional Final.

Zeeshan Haider's 32 took him to 187 runs for the tournament, the most by any batter, and Ali Dawood's two wickets took him to 15, the most by any bowler. Thailand finish fourth on six points, Bhutan fifth on four, Myanmar sixth on two and Mongolia seventh on one.