Qatar Beat Thailand by 7 Wickets — Zeeshan Haider's Unbeaten 47 Finishes What Six Bowlers Started

Twenty-four hours earlier, on this same ground, Qatar's bowlers had watched Kuwait hit 13 sixes on the way to 199. Cricket rarely offers a quicker chance to answer a question about yourself, and Qatar took it. They chose to field again, and this time they bowled 20 overs for 76 runs and nine wickets, without conceding a single six.

Thailand were 26 for 3 in the fifth over and never found a way back. The chase was not entirely serene — Qatar were 45 for 3 in the ninth over — but Zeeshan Haider was there at the start and there at the end, unbeaten on 47 from 41 balls. Qatar won by 7 wickets, with 45 balls remaining.

Every one of Qatar's six bowlers took a wicket, and none of them went for more than 20 runs. That is the line that tells the story. Mujeeb-ur-Rehman bowled his four overs for 10 with a maiden and two wickets, Owais Ahmed's four cost eight with two more, and Shariq Munir's three went for eight with two of his own. Between those three: eleven overs, 26 runs, six wickets. Muhammad Asim, Daniel Louis and Ikramullah Khan took one each. Thailand hit six fours in their innings and no sixes.

The chase began briskly enough, then wobbled. Zubair Ali was bowled by Chanchai Pengkumta at 14, Imal Liyanage fell to Pengkumta at 30, and when Mirza Mohammed Baig was out at 45 in the ninth over, Qatar still needed 32. Nobody would have called it a crisis, but three wickets inside nine overs is the kind of passage in which a small chase can start to feel larger than it is. Zeeshan Haider and Muhammad Asim did not let it get that far. They added 35 unbroken for the fourth wicket, and the match was done with 45 balls to spare.

Thailand's top score was Chaloemwong Chatphaisan's 16 from 13 balls, with four fours, and for a few overs he looked like the batter who might set the innings up. He was caught off Mujeeb at 26 in the fifth over, and after that the runs came in ones and twos. Austin Lazarus made 14 from 19, Aruesanan Wichakam 10 from 13, and nobody else reached double figures. Then three more wickets went for 10 runs, from 48 for 5 in the 11th over to 58 for 8 in the 16th. Six of the nine dismissals were bowled or lbw, which says something about how often Qatar's bowlers were attacking the stumps.

It would be unfair to leave it there. Pengkumta bowled three overs for 13 and took two of the three Qatari wickets, and the tail — Wichakam, Nopphon Senamontree and Sarawut Maliwan — scraped together the runs that took Thailand past 70. But 76 was always going to be a small target, and two defeats from two now leaves Thailand with ground to make up.

The scores suggest this was not an easy pitch to score quickly on: Thailand made 76 in 20 overs and no Thai batter struck a six. But Qatar's 80 for 3 came at 6.40 an over, and Zeeshan Haider found two sixes, so the surface was not unplayable. Later in the day, on the same ground, Bahrain made 139 for 5 against Bhutan. It is fair to say that the bowling, more than the conditions, held Thailand down.

In a chase of 77, the risk is not the target. It is the feeling that the target is too small to fail, and the loose shots that come with it. Zeeshan Haider played as if he knew that. His 47 from 41 balls had only four boundaries, two fours and two sixes, which means 27 of his runs came from running. Wickets fell at 14, 30 and 45 around him, and he simply kept going.

Against Kuwait the day before, he had made 14 from 15 in a losing cause. Here he made 47 of the 79 runs Qatar's batters scored, more than half, and he took the catch that removed Phiriyapong Suanchuai earlier in the day. Some innings are measured by what they add to the scoreboard; this one is better measured by what it took away — every chance of Thailand making a match of it. He finished three runs short of a fifty, and the scorecard will not remember that. It will remember the seven wickets.

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

Qualifier A is a seven-team single round robin running from October 5 to 14 in Malaysia. After six matches, Bahrain and Kuwait have won both their games. Bhutan and Qatar have one win and one defeat each. Thailand have lost two, and Myanmar and Mongolia have lost one each.

Qatar are level with Bhutan now, and the confidence of a seven-wicket win should travel well into their remaining fixtures. Thailand have four games left in the round robin and will be looking for the batting to match what their bowlers have shown across two matches.