THINLEY JAMTSHO GIVES CAMBODIA A FRIGHT BUT THEY HANG ON TO REACH SEMI-FINALS

The second match of the day saw Cambodia take on Bhutan knowing that victory would take them into the semi-finals in second place behind Saudi Arabia in their first ACC competition. A victory for Bhutan would leave three teams on two points and the second qualifier decided on net run-rate. It was Cambodia who won by 10 runs to qualify for the semi-finals but Thinley Jamtsho gave them a shock with 66* from 34 balls which nearly took Bhutan to victory.

Cambodia won the toss and decided to bat first. Salvin Stanly was promoted to open the batting and hit two fours before being caught behind to the third ball of the innings. Ram Sharan hit the first six of the innings but he became Tenzin Wangchuk’s second wicket when he was bowled for 12. Uday Hathinjar is a consistent opener and he hit three boundaries and Lakshit Gupta was also underway.as Cambodia reached 52 for 2 in six overs.

Cambodia lost their third wicket but this has brought captain Lugman Butt to the crease who made fifty in his last innings. Lugman and Uday have both found the boundary and Cambodia were well placed with these two at the crease on 68 for 3 after 10 overs.

Uday reached his fifty from 39 balls with another boundary and followed with a six. The hundred was up and the partnership reached 58 when Uday was out for 68 from 45 balls. Lugman hit more powerful shots in his 42 and Sharwan made 26* from 14.

Wangchuk finished with figures of 3 for 38 but Cambodia would be pleased with a total of 174 for 6 in 20 overs with victory required for a place in the semi-finals.

Sharwan took the first wicket as he bowled Jigme Dorji for 5 and Lugman bought himself on and claimed the second wicket and Bhutan were 46 for two in six overs.

Bhutan were keeping up with a rate close to eight an over with Utkarsh Jain bowling his slow left-arm but it was Ram Sharan who  took the third wicket. Bhutan were 71 for 3 in 10 and need 104 more to win.

The fourth Bhutan wicket fell in the 12th over and captain Thinley Jamtsho strode to the crease and soon began to strike the ball with great force. Boundaries came through the off-side and enormous sixes disappeared over long on and deep mid-wicket.

75 runs were needed from the last five overs and Jamtsho made sure the runs came off four of those overs. The crucial over was the 19th bowled by Sharwan and he conceded one run and finished with 2 for 15. 29 were needed from the last over and Jamtsho completed his fifty from 29 balls and clubbed two more sixes and a four.

Jamtsho hit five fours and five sixes in 66*  but Cambodia won by ten runs to reach the semi-finals and Uday Hathinjar was named player of the match for his innings of 68.