Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: UAE qualified for the 2025 Asia Cup by defeating Oman by 55 runs in the final of the 2024 ACC Men’s Premier Cup at Al Amerat, Oman, on Sunday.
Batting first, UAE scored 204 runs for the loss of four wickets, thanks to a magnificent century by Captain Muhammad Waseem. Chasing 205 for victory, Oman folded for 149 runs for the loss of nine wickets.
UAE’s opening pair of Alishan Sharafu and Waseem added 93 runs for the first wicket. After Sharafu fell in the 10th over, Waseem formed important partnerships with Vishnu Sukumaran, who scored 18, and Asif Khan to take UAE closer to the 200-run mark. Waseem fell on the last ball of the 18th over after reaching his second T20I century from 56 balls, finishing with 100 runs. Asif Khan scored 38 off 16 balls to take UAE past 200 runs.
Bilal Khan took two wickets for Oman, while Shakeel Ahmed and Zeeshan Maqsood each had a wicket to their names.
Chasing 204 for a place in the 2025 Asia Cup, Oman lost its first three wickets for just 11 runs. Kashyap Prajapati scored 1, Naseem Khushi was out for a duck, and Aqib Ilyas scored seven runs off as many balls. Captain Zeeshan Maqsood and Khalid Kail tried to resurrect Oman’s chase, adding 43 runs for the fourth wicket. Maqsood scored 14 off 14 balls, while Kail scored 30 runs off 25 balls. Pratik Athavale scored 49, and Fayyaz Butt remained not out on 23 runs.
Junaid Siddique took three wickets for UAE, while Muhammad Farooq and Aayan Afzal Khan claimed two each, and Basil Hameed had one wicket to his name.
While Oman qualified for the 2025 Asia Cup, the top three teams – Oman, UAE, and Hong Kong – have qualified for the 2024 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup, where they will play against A teams from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
