Qatar Beat Myanmar by 9 Wickets — Daniel Louis Takes 4 for 6

There are days when a bowling attack does not so much take wickets as take away the oxygen. Qatar used seven bowlers at the Selangor Turf Club, and none of them conceded more than 13 runs. Myanmar chose to bat, batted out all 20 overs, and finished on 55 for 9.

At the heart of it was Daniel Louis, whose four overs included two maidens and cost six runs for four wickets. Zubair Ali then hit two sixes in a 24-ball 34 not out and the chase lasted seven overs. Qatar won by 9 wickets, with 78 balls remaining.

Myanmar's openers got to 18 in the sixth over, and Htet Lin Oo's 16 from 20 balls, with two fours, was the best innings of the day for his side. Then Mirza Mohammed Baig had him lbw, and the squeeze began. Baig took 3 for 13. Shariq Munir bowled four overs for eight runs with a maiden. Muhammad Asim, Owais Ahmed and Ikramullah Khan between them gave away 17 runs in seven overs.

Louis took his wickets in clusters. He had Kyaw Zin Lin caught and Ko Ko Lin Thu caught in the 11th over, turning 23 for 2 into 23 for 4, and later bowled Pyae Phyo Wai and Kaung Htet Kyaw. The chase needed no drama. Zeeshan Haider fell in the second over, but Zubair Ali and Shariq Munir, the latter now with the bat, added 44 unbroken from 31 balls.

Myanmar can take one thing from this: they batted the full 20 overs and were not bowled out. Aung Ko Ko was still there at the end with 10 not out from 13 balls, and Nyan Lin Htet stayed 18 balls for his seven. Time at the crease is the first building block. Turning that time into runs, rotating the strike against good bowling, is the next one.

With the ball, Pyae Phyo Wai took the only wicket, Zeeshan Haider caught by Paing Danu in the second over. Myanmar have three defeats from three games and play Kuwait next.

Myanmar chose to bat in the morning at the Selangor Turf Club, and run-scoring was hard work against bowlers who kept it tight. Qatar's attack had a combined economy rate of under three an over and bowled four maidens. When Qatar batted, the scoring was easier: Zubair Ali found the boundary five times and the chase came at eight an over. The gap between the innings said more about the bowling than about the pitch.

Twenty-four balls, six runs, four wickets, and two maidens. Figures like Daniel Louis's are the purest kind in T20 cricket, because they mean the batters were never allowed to settle. Two of his wickets were catches, two bowled, and Myanmar never managed more than 18 runs for any wicket.

It is the quiet craft of a bowler who makes the batter come to him. On a day when Qatar's whole attack was miserly, Louis was the most miserly of all.

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

After 12 matches in Qualifier A, Bahrain lead with eight points from four games, Kuwait have six from four, and Bhutan and Qatar have four each from three, Bhutan ahead on net run rate (+1.617 to +1.513). Thailand have two points from four. Myanmar (−2.853) and Mongolia have yet to win.

On October 11, Qatar play Bhutan at the YSD-UKM Cricket Oval in Bangi, a meeting of the two sides level on four points. Myanmar face Kuwait at Bayuemas Oval on the same day.