Abbasi sits out but Pakistan win easily

Pakistan skipper Zeeshan Abbasi sat out of his team’s clash at the Aditya Global Sports Grounds but that didn’t stop the two-time World Cup (40-over) champions from having it easy against the Sri Lankans in the T20 World Cup for the Blind here on Sunday.

Abbasi, who was admitted in the hospital on Saturday after he accidentally consumed liquid detergent in the team hotel, opted to skip the match as Pakistan had already qualified for the semifinals with five wins from five matches before racking up another one on Sunday.
“We asked him to rest as we had already qualified for the semis. He is perfectly healthy and he will play from the semifinals onwards,” said Pakistan Blind Cricket Council chairman Sultan Shah.

On field, Pakistan continued to impress as they posted a facile nine-wicket win over the Lankans. Lanka, batting first, scored 147 for nine overs. Pakistan, in reply, chased down the target in 9.1 overs.

Meanwhile, India too had a good day in the office. Led by man of the match Ajay Kumar Reddy’s four-wicket effort, India reduced Bangladesh to 57 for nine in 20 overs before scaling the target in a mere eleven balls.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka: 147/9 in 20 overs (Deshapriya 39, S Chandana 29; Anees Javed 3-14) lt to Pakistan: 148/1 in 9.1 overs (Ali Murtaza 48, Mohammad Zafar 48, Mohammad Zohaib 36).

Bangladesh: 57/9 in 20 overs (Ajay K Reddy 4-8) lt to India: 58/0 in 1.5 overs (Prakash Jayaramaiah 29). South Africa: 185/9 in 20 overs (Lawrence Ruthven 53, Peter Robinson 3-27, Lindsay Heaven 2-38) lt to Australia: 186/2 in 14 overs (Lindsay Heaven 83, Matt McCarthy 56; Sean Schwan 2-36).

West Indies: 237/3 in 18 overs (Gregory Stewart 87, Halden Forde 60) bt Nepal: 164/0 in 18 overs (Khimananda Gaire 76 n.o., Bikram B Rana 28 n.o., Ram Prasad Paudel (retd) 30).