Asia Cup 2018 qualifiers: Round up of day 1 

The 2018 Asia Cup qualifiers began today with six nations taking part in the tournament which includes Hong Kong, Oman, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Malaysia. The winner of this tournament will join India and Pakistan in the main tournament starting from 15th September 2018.

In the first round of matches, Hong Kong took on Malaysia at Kinara Academy Oval, Bandar Kinara. It was a great performance by the hosts Malaysia who shocked Hong Kong in a low scoring thriller. Malaysian captain Ahmed Faiz won the toss and decided to field first. A great bowling performance by Malaysia helped them to bowl out Hong Kong for 161 in 46.4 overs. For Hong Kong, Babar Hayat was the top scorer with 58. Anushman Rath made 22 and SS McKechnie made 26 runs.

Syazrul Idrus, Pavandeep Singh and Suharril Fetri picked 3 wickets each. Chasing 162 runs to win, Shafiq Sharif 49 and quick-fire cameos by Muhammad Syahadat 23, Syed Aziz 25. S Muniandy and Syazrul Idrus partnership helped Malaysia to win the match by 3 wickets with 43 balls to spare. For Hong Kong, Nadeem Ahmed was the pick of bowlers with 4 for 25.

In the second match of the day, Oman defeated shocked the favourites Nepal by 7 wickets at Bayuemas Oval, Pandamaran. Oman Captain Zeeshan Maqsood won the toss and elected to field first. Apart from Sagar Pun 83, G Malla 45, Aarif Sheikh 36, Karan KC 26 off 10 balls none of Nepal batsmen scored valuable contributions. Oman restricted Nepal to 221 for 9 in 50 overs. For Oman, Bilal Khan, Mohammad Nadeem and Lalcheta took 2 wickets each.

Chasing the target of 222 to win, Oman batsmen got good starts with Jatinder Singh scoring 30, Wateganokar 41. Both Wateganokar and Khawar Ali added 76 runs for the 3rd wicket helped Oman laid the foundation for a brilliant win. Khawar Ali remained not out on 84 and captain Zeeshan Masqood 45 helped Oman register a 7 wicket win with 12 balls to spare.

In the final match of the day, United Arab Emirates crushed Singapore by 215 runs. Singapore captain Suryawanshi won the toss and invited UAE into bat. Ashfaq Ahmed and Chirag Suri brilliant 105 runs stand for opening wicket laid a strong foundation for a big total. Chirag Suri scored 111, Ashfaq Ahmed 64, Shaiman Anwar 75 off 62 balls helped UAE post a massive total of 312 for 8 in 49 overs.

Chasing the target of 313 to win, captain Suryawanshi remained not out on 51 as UAE bowled out Singapore for just 97 in 25.4 overs. Ahmed Raza picked 6 wickets for 20 runs for UAE.

UAE is at the top of points table with better run rate, followed by Malaysia, Oman.

Tomorrow's matches will see UAE take on Nepal, Hong Kong taking on Singapore and Malaysia taking on Oman.