Japan defeat Kuwait by five wickets, advance to Super Six with Nepal

KATHMANDU: Japan knocked Kuwait out of the ICC T20 World Cup East Asia Pacific Qualifiers with a five-wicket victory at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman on Thursday.

This was Kuwait’s second straight defeat in the qualifiers. They suffered a 58-run defeat to Nepal in their first match of the qualifiers on Wednesday.

The win means both Nepal and Japan have qualified for the Super Six stage with a game to spare.

Batting first, Kuwait scored 177 runs for the loss of six wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Japan chased down the target in 19.3 overs, losing five wickets.

Ali Zaheer top-scored for Kuwait with 41 off 31 balls. Yasin Patel made 40, Clinto Anto contributed 34, and Meet Bhavsar added 29 runs. The rest of the Kuwaiti batters failed to reach double digits.

Declan Suzuki claimed three wickets for Japan, while S Ravichandran took two and Abdul Samad picked up one.

Eesam Rahman led Japan’s chase with a 39-ball 64. He clubbed two sixes and nine fours. He was supported by S. Ravichandran (39) and Ibrahim Takahashi (26), while opener Kendel Fleming added 28 off 19 balls.

Muhammad Aqif Farooq, Yasin Patel and Shiraz Khan took one wicket each for Kuwait.

Japan will face Nepal in their final group-stage match on Friday.