Three Hundreds and 666 Runs: Shahzeb Afridi and Zubair Ali Lead Qatar's Chase of 332 Against Kuwait

Kuwait chose to bat, and for 50 overs they did almost everything right. Their openers put on 79, Meet Bhavsar batted through to the end for an unbeaten 120, and 331 for 6 is a total most teams would be glad to defend. Seventeen days earlier Kuwait had beaten Qatar by 58 runs in a T20 qualifier in Kuala Lumpur, and they had every reason to feel in control here too.

Qatar answered in the most direct way possible. Shahzeb Afridi and Zubair Ali put on 138 for the first wicket in 14 overs, and by the time Afridi was bowled for 105, the chase had been turned into a steady walk. Zubair batted through for 100 not out, and Qatar finished on 335 for 5 in 45.3 overs. The two sides made 666 runs between them. Qatar won by 5 wickets with 27 balls remaining.

Chasing 332, the pressure is on the batting side from the first ball. Qatar's openers turned that pressure around. Afridi's 105 came from 57 balls, and 90 of those runs came in boundaries — 15 fours and five sixes. When he was bowled by Bhavsar in the 14th over, Qatar were 138 for 1 and needed less than six an over from there.

That is where Zubair Ali's innings mattered most. He had been the quieter partner, and he stayed that way: 100 not out from 101 balls with nine fours and no sixes, batting from the first over to the last. Imal Liyanage (21) and Muhammad Asim (27) helped keep the score moving, and Zeeshan Haider's 51 from 47 balls, with two sixes, came in a fourth-wicket stand of 75 with Zubair that took Qatar to 298. Shahzaib Jamil hit two fours in an unbeaten 9 at the end.

The bowling had a harder day. Ikramullah Khan's 10 overs cost 65 without a wicket and Muhammad Asim's cost 72 for two. Owais Ahmed was the most effective, with 2 for 58 from his 10, including Sandaruwan and Aslam, and Mujeeb-ur-Rehman's five overs cost only 24.

Ravija Sandaruwan (46 from 53) and Clinto Anto (42 from 47) gave Kuwait the start they wanted, 79 for the first wicket in 14.3 overs. After Anto fell at 109, Bhavsar and Mohammed Aslam (45 from 46) added 96 for the third wicket, and Bhavsar then saw the innings through. His 120 not out came from 106 balls with 10 fours and two sixes, and he and Yasin Patel (18 not out from 12) added an unbroken 38 at the end.

With the ball, Kuwait could not find a way to slow Qatar's openers, and none of their eight bowlers got through more than eight overs. Shiraz Khan took 2 for 59, and Nimish Lathief's seven overs went for 35, the most economical spell of the innings. Bhavsar, fittingly, took the big wicket of Afridi. But by then, 138 runs had already gone.

Two totals above 330 and three individual hundreds suggest the conditions at Ruaraka favoured the batters on this day. Qatar scored at more than seven an over in the chase. Whatever help the surface gave, it was the batting that settled this match.

On a day of three hundreds, Afridi's was the one that changed the match. Bhavsar's 120 set the target, and Zubair's 100 made sure it was reached, but it was Afridi's 57-ball 105 that turned a hard chase into a manageable one. Of the 138 Qatar had when he was dismissed, he had made 105.

Big chases can feel heavy in the early overs, when each dot ball adds to the required rate. Afridi took that weight away. By the time he left, Qatar's batters could pace the rest of the chase, and that is exactly what they did.

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

Group A of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League continues in Nairobi. Qatar take two points and real confidence from chasing 332. For Kuwait, a 331 total and a Bhavsar hundred show what the batting can do; the question now is how the attack responds next time out.