Saudi Arabia will fight it out with Kuwait in the final of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19 Challenge Cup here Saturday. In the semifinals on Friday, the Kingdom stormed past Bhutan by eight wickets. After losing the first match of the tournament to Kuwait by 5 wickets, the Saudi Arabian team took it as a challenge against every other team in the league. In dire need of winning the next two matches consecutively, Saudi Arabia beat Maldives by bowling it all out for 141 runs in 44.5 overs and chasing down the total in a mere 20 overs (143-4) where Immad Shams and Zubaid Ahmed stole the show with their explosive beating. Focusing on the next match, Saudi Arabia coasted through the Brunei team, setting it a target of 526 in 50 overs and with no mercy, bowling it out for just 44 runs. Faheem Afrad bowled an exceptional spell by taking 7 wickets for just 5 runs in 7 overs. Saudi Arabia skipper Mohammed Abdullah hit an amazing 161 runs but the Man of the Match Emad Uddin stole the show by scoring 223 runs with 36 fours and 4 sixes. With this momentum and enthusiasm, Saudi Arabia beat Bhutan in the semifinals by 8 wickets and Emad Uddin again took the Man of the Match award, this time for his extraordinary spell of 4 overs – 2 wickets for 7 runs. After bundling out Bhutan for 90 runs in 30 overs, Saudi Arabia coasted home comfortably by making 96 runs for the loss of just two wickets.
