An over later, Babar Hayat fell, too. For the second day running, he signalled the big-hitting intent for which he is known in domestic cricket, and for the second day running he was gone in a flash, wafting to divert Sayed Monib’s wide-ish long hop to Usman.
A magnificent catch by Shiraz Khan at backward point had Kuwaiti tails up. Kinchit Shah cut fiercely at an inviting Mohamed Shafeeq delivery and Shiraz dived to pluck it out of the air one-handed. Anshuman held steady, however, to make 57, before Adit added a 14-ball 20 whose highlight was a six over square leg in the last over.
Kuwait’s innings faltered when Aizaz Khan ran out Meet Bhavsar with a direct hit in the first over and Adnan Idrees’ dismissal lbw left them two down for 21.
There was a suggestion of the balance tilting again when Raag Kapur was swatted for successive sixes by Usman, one on to the pavilion roof and another into the police station next door. He got his own back by tempting Usman into an edge that proved the beginning of a mini-collapse, Ravija Sandaruwan holing out and Ali Zaheer given out leg-before to leave Kuwait 56 for five.
While they still had their skipper Mohammed Aslam, they still had faint hope. Driving straight and improvising scoops, he kept them going but not quickly enough for the required rate, which was up to two runs a ball by the time Bilal Tahir came to the middle.
He set about addressing that with three sixes between square leg and deep midwicket, and one over long on, in a partnership of 48 in 18 balls with Sayed Monib that kept the outcome in doubt until the final over.
Malaysia may still be the team to beat. They saw off Bahrain by 53 runs, restricting them to 147 for nine after posting the tournament’s highest total of 200 for six, of which Muhammad Amir contributed 80.
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