Pratheesh fashions Kuwait win

Pratheesh Rajpal, the skipper of the Kuwait team, hogged the limelight on the second day of the Asia Cup Under-15 cricket tournament.

At the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Pratheesh hit a whirlwind 196 off just 86 balls studded with 17 boundaries and 14 sixes to steer his team to a 144-run victory over Qatar yesterday.

Batting first, Kuwait lost their opener Hammad for just 7 runs. Opener Rohit and Mervin put on 43 runs for the second wicket before Rohit was out for 29.

Two-down batsman Omar lasted only three balls before being run out for 2.

In walked the Pratheesh to virtually snatch the match away from Qatar with some powerful shots.

He picked the gaps beautifully to hit 17 boundaries. He also lifted the ball effortlessly to hit 14 sixes and added 226 runs for the fourth wicket with Mervin. Khalid finally trapped Mervin leg before for 38.

Nadeem, batting at No.6 chipped in with a quick 36 off 16 balls and Kuwait amassed a whopping 388 in 40 overs.

Qatar, who began well in this tournament on Saturday with a two-wicket win over Malaysia were virtually blown off by Pratheesh's breezy knock.

To make things more difficult for Qatar, Pratheesh struck right away with the ball. He clean bowled opener Fahad Alvi for 7. Khalid 39 (41b, 6x4, 1x6) and Qamar 56 (67b, 5x4, 2x6) put on 61 runs for the second wicket. Khalid fell to Christopher and Omar bowled next man Syed for a duck.

Faisal Noor and Qamar kept the run chase on with a 50 run partnership before Noor was out for 31.

Pratheesh struck again removing the well settled Qamar. He also bowled Uzair Ali for two and Qatar's run chase too ended.

Pratheesh picked 3 for 30 runs while Omar and Christopher bagged two wickets each to ensure an easy victory.

Summarised scores:
Kuwait 388 for 8 in 40 overs. (Rohit 29, Mervin 38, Pratheesh 196, Nadeem 36, Khalid Azeem 2 for 89, Qamar Sadiq 2 for 54) bt Qatar 244 for 9 in 40 overs. (Khalid 39, Qamar 56, Faisal Noor 31, M. Tahir 19, Pratheesh 3 for 30, Omar 2 for 33, Christopher 2 for 36)
Man of the match - Pratheesh.