Babar Hayat scored 15 runs off four balls as Hong Kong won a last-ball thriller against Afghanistan on Tuesday to qualify for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup finals.
In a daring and brave chase of 162 and needing 16 off the last over with three wickets down, Hayat kept his cool as two wickets fell in the over, hitting two runs off the final delivery to give Hong Kong victory by five wickets in Dublin, Ireland.
Hong Kong-born Dermot Reeve, the city’s most famous cricketing product who played for England at test level and in the 1996 50-over World Cup, congratulated coach Charlie Burke and the players on Facebook minutes their victory.
“Hong Kong just beat Afghanistan and qualify for the next t20 World Cup. Congrats Charlie Burke and all the players. FANTASTIC,” wrote Reeve.
Skipper Tanwir Afzal, who was run out on the penultimate ball delivered by spinner Mohammad Nabi, said the players were focused on beating the highly rated Afghans after their win on Sunday over Namibia gave them a chance at qualifying for the T20 finals in India.
“We played well from the first over till the end. We always believed we could chase down 162. We gave everything in this game,” said Afzal.
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat, racking up runs at a rapid pace. Hong Kong captured key wickets at crucials stages of the innings but their opponents eventually reached a formidable 161 for seven off their 20 overs.
Man-of-the-match Nawroz Mangal scored 53 while Haseeb Amjad took three for 28.
Hong Kong needed to score at a fraction more than eight runs an over and, for the most part, they were behind the rate despite some determined hitting.
Openers Irfan Ahmed, who hit 98 against Namibia, and Jamie Atkinson put on 28 before Irfan fell in the fifth over after being caught at mid-on. Atkinson and Nizakat Khan then took the score to 79 before the latter was out for 26. At that stage, it looked like a tall order for Hong Kong but Mark Chapman blasted 40 from 25 balls to reignite the chase.
Chapman, however, was out first ball in the final over but Hayat then hit a four and a six. The next ball was wide and then Hayat lost strike after scoring three. With two balls to go and two runs needed, Afzal was run out but, crucially, the batsmen had crossed and Hayat was able to take strike. Hayat hit the last ball to long on and comfortably ran back for two to complete a historic victory.
“It showed that we have matured a lot,and we knew that with wickets in hand we were always in the game,” said Chapman.
