The Kerala-born Basil Hameed bowled a magical spell to help United Arab Emirates fold Oman to a paltry score of 195 in the 58th match of ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 being played at Al Amerat on February 6.
Basil stood tall to take Oman batters to cleaners as he snared five wickets while conceding mere 17 runs in 6.2 overs that he bowled at an impressive economy rate of 2.68. Although, he remained wicktless in the consecutive five games that he played but finally made a rocking comeback to prove his mettle with the ball.
Batting first, Oman didn't get the best of start as the opening duo of Jatinder Singh (17 off 25) and Khawar Ali (5 off 30) failed to deliver and fell cheaply. Kashyap Prajapati then tried to steady the boat with a 29-run knock which came off in 36 balls.
Soon he was also seen coming back to pavilion falling prey to Rohan Mustafa. Ayaan Khan came next and stayed at the crease for a while where he scored 33 runs that came off in 60 balls, Basil struck and thwarted his intension to get the scoreboard running.
Shoaib Khan remained the top scorer as he mustered a quickfire 68 in 59 deliveries that he played which was decorated with three sixes and five boundaries. Later, Ahmed Raza took up the mantle and removed him before he could pose any threat to the bowlers.
Then Oman batters fell like a stack of cards where most of the batters were sent to pavilion on scores of single digit.
Sandeep Goud, skipper Zeeshan Maqsood, wicketkeeper batsman Naseem Khushi, Kaleemullah and Bilal Khan, all were dismissed on a pin code like scores of 4, 6, 8, 2, 1 respectively. Nestor Dhamba remained unbeaten on the score of 10 but couldn't do much and his side was restricted at the score of 195 in 40.5 overs.
The five batters who succumbed to Basil ruthless bowling were Ayaan Khan, Sandeep Goud, Naseem Khushi, Kaleemullah, and Bilal Khan. Other bowlers who complimented Basil in the mission were Ahmed Raza, who scalped 2 wickets while conceding 37 runs in a spell of 10 overs while Akif Raza took one wicket as he splurged 42 runs. Zahoor Khan too returned with one wicket while conceding mere 25 runs and later Rohan Mustafa matched him with as many wickets.
It would be interesting to see how UAE will launch their chase, however, it won't be a herculean task for them to overhaul a lowly target of 196.
