After some nail-biting encounters in the league stage, the Qatar T10 Battle is set to conclude tonight. Desert Riders will square off against Flying Oryx for the third place at the West End International Cricket Stadium in Doha. The match will begin at 4:00 PM local time. Rain played villain in both the semi-finals as the matches were abandoned without a toss. Desert Riders and Flying Oryx were the unfortunate teams who were on the receiving end of the wet weather as they were robbed off the opportunity to enter in the Finals.
With the washout, Swift Gallopers and Falcon Hunters automatically made it to the final. The tournament law suggested the teams finishing in the top two positions in the league phase will clash in the final in case of washouts of both the semi-finals. Gallopers and Hunters finished No.1 and No.2 having won four of the five matches in the tournament.
The Desert Riders were looking good in the league stage and were the firm favourites in the semi-final. Riders won three matches in the league stage. They lost one game against the Falcon Hunters while their match against Pearl Gladiators ended in a washout. But their hopes to win the inaugural Qatar T10 Battle came to a disappointing end as the team got eliminated without a ball being bowled. However, the team will look to end their campaign on a good note by winning the 3rd place playoffs against the Flying Oryx.
Flying Oryx stormed into top four despite winning only one of the five matches. They were tied on three points with Pearl Gladiators but Oryx’s better head to head record against Gladiators helped them to enter in the semi-final. But their fourth rank in the points table became a disadvantage as they were knocked out of the final. Flying Oryx would look to topple the Desert Riders from the 3rd spot and finish their campaign on high.
Pitch Report
The pitch at the West End Park International Cricket Stadium in Doha has been fairly good for batting and we can expect the same for this match as well. Scores in excess of 95 will be a good score in this wicket.
Weather Conditions
Cloudy conditions are forecasted for the evening. There will be scattered thunderstorms during the day but the weather is expected to improve for the game.
Probable Playing XI
Flying Oryx
Hussain Talat, Daniyal Bukhari, Musawar Shah (c), Harmandeep Singh, Bilawal Iqbal, Assad Borham (wk), Valeed Veetil, Naveed Malik, Akash, Abdul Rashid, Deepu.
Desert Riders
Mohammad Hafeez (c), Adnan Mirza, Muhammad Tanveer, Ramith Rambukwella, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Imal Liyanage (wk), Ajay Lalcheta, Mirza Baig, Sohail Tanvir, Awais Malik, Muhammad Ikram
Key Players
Flying Oryx
Hussain Talat
Harmandeep Singh
Desert Riders
Mohammad Hafeez
Adnan Mirza
