Saudi Arabia Beat Singapore by 75 Runs — Abdul Waheed Sets the Tone, the Bowlers Finish the Job

Singapore won the toss and put Saudi Arabia in. Abdul Waheed then spent 32 balls making it look like the wrong one. His 54, with eight fours and a six, gave Saudi Arabia a platform from which 174 was always likely, and in the end that proved far more than Singapore could chase.

It wasn't one innings and one spell. It was a whole-team performance: three batters reaching 30, five bowlers sharing six wickets, and a run-out on top of that. Saudi Arabia won by 75 runs.

Waheed set the tempo from the start, but the innings didn't depend on him. After he was caught behind off Harsh Venkataram at 91 for 3 in the 11th over, Manan Ali and Hisham Shaikh added 42 for the fourth wicket, and Shaikh went on to 35 from 26 balls. Usman Najeeb's 12 from five balls at the death pushed the total over 170.

With the ball, Saudi Arabia never let the chase start. Singapore were 36 for 3 in the eighth over, already needing more than ten an over. Usman Khalid took two wickets for 16. Zain Ul Abidin's four overs cost 16. Five different bowlers took a wicket, and Ishtiaq Ahmad, who didn't, ran out Manpreet Singh. Only one extra was conceded in Singapore's 20 overs.

There was one standout performance in Singapore's day, and it came from behind the stumps. Manpreet Singh caught Waheed, Manan Ali and Hisham Shaikh, stumped Waji Ul Hassan, and helped run out Zain Ul Abidin — a hand in five of the seven Saudi wickets. Daksh Tyagi took three wickets with the ball and top-scored with 18 in the chase. Akshay Puri's four overs cost 18.

The batting is where the match was lost. Nobody reached 20, and the top four were out by the 11th over. Against a target of 175 the scoring rate had to be bold from the start, and it never got above five an over for long. Singapore's attack is good enough to compete in this group. The batting has four games to catch up with it.

Both innings at the YSD-UKM Cricket Oval followed the same pattern: the side that took risks got the runs, and the side that couldn't get going got stuck. Saudi Arabia scored at 8.7 an over, Singapore at under five. Waji Ul Hassan was stumped off Jeevan Santhanam, and Akshay Puri, at 18 runs from four overs, was the hardest Singapore bowler to get away. It was not a pitch that stopped good batting, though, as Waheed showed in the powerplay.

Eight fours and a six in 32 balls. Waheed batted through the first ten overs and scored 54 of the 91 runs on the board when he was out. When Faisal Khan fell in the third over and Waji Ul Hassan in the sixth, he kept going rather than rebuilding. That is what an opener's job looks like in a qualifying tournament: take the initiative while the ball is new and the field is up, and let everyone else bat around you.

CricIntel did not publish a preview for this match, so there is no prediction to review.

Qualifier B is a six-team single round robin in Malaysia. After the opening round, Maldives, Saudi Arabia (net run rate +3.75) and Hong Kong each have two points, and China, Malaysia and Singapore are yet to score.

Saudi Arabia play the hosts Malaysia on October 9 at Bayuemas Oval. Singapore face Maldives at the Selangor Turf Club, against a side that won their opening game by ten wickets.