Match abandoned Malaysia vs Oman
The four teams will now take on the four top-seeded teams, who had qualified for the quarter-finals directly. Afghanistan will take on India and Hong Kong will face Pakistan in the two quarter-finals on Monday, while Malaysia face Bangladesh and Nepal go up against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
With the first round pitting three teams each in two groups, and the matches taking place in a single-round format – two games for each team – a single loss was always going to hurt. That’s what happened with Oman, who had lost their opening fixture to Hong Kong by 41 runs, failing to chase down the 122-run target. Malaysia, meanwhile, had beaten Hong Kong in their first game, getting to their 82-run target with 48 balls left in the chase.
In the other group too, two matches that had results decided the placements, with Nepal’s win over Afghanistan enough to make them the top team, and Afghanistan’s win over Japan giving them the second spot.