Photo: Collected
Malaysia have become champions of Group B as their match against Oman was abandoned because of rain. As a result, Malaysia will be Bangladesh’s opponents in the quarter-final of the Asian Games cricket competition.
The match will be held at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin at 11:00am Bangladesh time on Tuesday.
Bangladesh and Malaysia had met once before in international cricket, in the quarter-final of the Asian Games held in China in 2022. Bangladesh won that thrilling match by 2 runs to reach the semi-final.
Malaysia recently toured Bangladesh and played a series against the Bangladesh High Performance team.
Malaysia’s match against Oman was due to be held in Nisshin, but play could not be started because of continuous rain. The two teams shared the points. As a result, Malaysia reached the quarter-final at the top of Group B with three points from two matches.
Hong Kong became group runners-up with two points. Oman, who got one point, have been eliminated from the competition. From Group A, Nepal and Afghanistan have secured the remaining two places in the quarter-finals. Nepal’s match against hosts Japan was also abandoned because of rain, with which Nepal reached the quarter-final at the top of the group and Japan were eliminated.
India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan had earlier secured places directly in the last eight on the basis of the ICC rankings.
Both matches of the tournament’s first two quarter-finals today, between Pakistan and Hong Kong and between Afghanistan and India, have been abandoned because of rain. With this, Pakistan and India have reached the semi-finals by virtue of being ahead in the rankings.
Pakistan’s opponents in the first semi-final will be the winners of the fourth quarter-final between Bangladesh and Malaysia.
If the Bangladesh-Malaysia match is also abandoned because of rain, the Tigers will go through to the semi-final. On the Malaysia match, Bangladesh captain Litton Das said, ‘If there is no play because of rain, there will be nothing to do. I said before, nobody has any control over the rain.’
Litton is looking to the first match rather than thinking about medals right now. He said, ‘I said one thing before leaving the country, that our first target is to reach the final. Whether we get the gold medal or not is a later matter. But tomorrow’s match is much more important. For now we are focusing on that match.’
Like captain Litton, Mohammad Salahuddin, coach of the Bangladesh team at this Games, is giving extra importance to the match against Malaysia. He said, ‘I think the first match is very important for us. Playing straight away after 5-7 days without a match will actually be very difficult. The quarter-final is a pressure match, because it is the knockout stage. We too know how important it is. We have no lack of motivation. Insha Allah, we will do well.’
Besides, the winners of the third quarter-final between Nepal and Sri Lanka will face India in the semi-final. Nepal and Sri Lanka will take the field at 6:00am tomorrow.
