On the last practice match of the Maldives team in Male’, Ahmed Hassan dislocated his finger on the field. It looked like one of Maldives promising young batsman may have to miss this important tour.
However, quick medical attention and a strong will to play enabled Ahmed to tour with the team. And his 36 runs and long vigil at the crease helped Maldives secure their first victory in the ACC Elite League.
Maldives main strength has always been its strong bowling and fielding. It came into fore in today’s opener too. Maldives opening duo of Hassan Ibrahim and Ahmed Umar Jamal tore into the opening pair. Bhutan found themselves two down for 7 runs in the fifth over. With Ahmed Umar taking the two wickets. Singye showed some resistance but was caught by Rishwan off the bowling of Shafee Saeed. Wickets fell steadily from there on, with Mihusan taking 3 wickets and Mahafooz another 2 wickets. Hassan Ibrahim and Ahmed Hassan took 1 wicket each. Mihusan returned the best bowling figures taking 3 wickets for 15 runs in 9 overs. Bhutan were all out for 109 runs in the last over.
Maldives openers Ahmed Hassan and Abdulla Shahid made a strong start, putting on 36 runs, but Shahid was caught by Chhetri off the bowling of Penjor. Mohamed Rishwan joined in, but he was soon caught again by Chettri for 7 runs. Rain added some drama as a heavy monsoon downpour halted Maldives momentum. After the match resumed, some nerves set it, and Maldives were 4 down by the 13th over, with Shafraz Jaleel, captain Afzal Faiz and Mihusan going down easily. However, Ahmed Hassan battled through the pain, to see Maldives register their first win of the tournament, an important win in their first target of remaining in the ACC Elite group. There was late drama as Ahmed Hassan was caught in the 25th over, and Mohamed Mahafooz was out in the same over. However, Neesham Nasir and Ahmed Jamal held their nerve to finish off the game in the 27th over, wining the match by 3 wickets with 72 balls remaining.
Maldives play their second match tomorrow against Bahrain at the Indian Association ground.
