Zeeshan Haider's unbeaten 47 carries Qatar past Thailand for their first points

Qatar opened their account at the Asia sub-regional qualifier by squeezing Thailand out of the contest and chasing 77 with 45 balls to spare

Qatar beat Thailand by seven wickets in the fourth match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Asia Qualifier A at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, a day after losing their own opening fixture.

Six Qatar bowlers shared the nine wickets that held Thailand to 76 for 9 from their 20 overs, and Zeeshan Haider then batted through for an unbeaten 47 from 41 balls as the target was knocked off in 12.3 overs.

The win lifts Qatar off the bottom of a seven-team table in a tournament that carries three qualification places, and leaves Thailand without a point from two attempts.

Nothing moves for Thailand

Qatar won the toss and chose to field, and the decision was vindicated inside the powerplay. Akshaykumar Yadav was bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rehman for 1 from six balls, and no Thailand batter afterwards scored at the rate a Twenty20 innings asks for.

Chaloemwong Chatphaisan made the innings' top score of 16 from 13 before Mujeeb had him caught by Shariq Munir. He was the only batter in the side to score faster than a run a ball.

Austin Lazarus lasted longest, 19 balls for 14, and the rest of the card reads as a succession of starts that went nowhere: 2 from four balls, 4 from 10, 7 from 13, 6 from 13, 2 from 13.

Six bowlers, nine wickets

Qatar did not need hostility so much as an absence of bad balls, and they got one. Owais Ahmed returned 2-8 from four overs, an economy rate of 2.00, and Mujeeb Ur Rehman finished with 2-10 from four including a maiden.

Shariq Munir took 2-8 from three in the middle overs, and Daniel Louis, Ikramullah Khan and Muhammad Asim each picked up one.

No Qatar bowler conceded more than 20 runs in the innings, which is the clearest measure of how little room Thailand were given.

Zeeshan Haider takes the long way home

Chasing 77, Qatar lost Zubair Ali for 9 to Chanchai Pengkumta and then Imal Liyanage for a brisk 12 from nine, caught at the end of a Pengkumta over that briefly made the target look like work.

Mirza Mohammed Baig went for 3 from eight balls to Nopphon Senamontree, leaving Qatar three down with the margin of error narrower than a 77-run chase ought to allow.

Zeeshan Haider refused to be the fourth. He took the singles on offer and waited for the loose ball, finishing on 47 not out from 41 alongside Muhammad Asim, who was unbeaten on 8.

Pengkumta was the pick of the Thailand attack with 2-13 from three overs; Senamontree's 1-27 from 3.3 told the other half of the story.

A different Qatar from 24 hours earlier

Qatar had been beaten comfortably on the opening day. Kuwait made 199 for 7 against them and won by 58 runs, with Imal Liyanage's 39 from 28 the only substantial Qatar innings in reply.

That defeat left them seventh of seven on net run rate. Two points and a 45-ball margin have moved them to fourth, level on points with Kuwait, Bhutan and Bahrain but behind all three.

Thailand, beaten by Bahrain by seven runs on Monday, are sixth with two defeats and no points.

What the fortnight is for

Qualifier A is a single round-robin: seven teams, 21 matches, running to 14 October across the Bayuemas Oval, the UKM-YSD Cricket Oval and the Selangor Turf Club. A second sub-regional qualifier, with six teams, runs alongside it from 8 October.

The top three from each goes through to the next stage of the Asia qualification pathway in 2027, filling the six places at the regional final — the route to the 2028 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

"We are honoured to host these important events on the road to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2028," Malaysian Cricket Association president Mahinda Vallipuram said before the tournament began.

For Qatar the arithmetic is now simple enough: four matches remain, and third place is within a game of them.

Scorecard: Thailand 76 for 9 (Chatphaisan 16, Lazarus 14; Owais Ahmed 2-8, Mujeeb Ur Rehman 2-10, Shariq Munir 2-8) lost to Qatar 80 for 3 in 12.3 overs (Zeeshan Haider 47*; Chanchai Pengkumta 2-13) by seven wickets.

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