KUALA LUMPUR: It was a match between professionals and amateurs in the Sea Games men's cricket 50-overs final in Phnom Penh today.
Powered by Indian and Pakistani players, Cambodia turned the tables on defending champions, winning by 89 runs at the AZ Group Cricket Oval.
Cambodia scored 334 runs with a fall of seven wickets. And the Malaysia team, coached by Pakistan coach Bilal Asad, had problems making runs. They were restricted to 245 runs with all out in 40.1 overs.
It was clear that Cambodia kept their best for the final. The hosts batted and bowled exceptionally well, while Malaysia found it tough to stop them.
Cambodia won the toss and elected to bat. Ram Raushan Sharan and Lakshit Gupta were the first two to bat, and the former was in sizzling form as he scored 111 runs from 86 balls with 10 fours and four sixes.
Lakshit made 56 runs from 80 balls.
Cambodia skipper Luqman Butt was the man of the match. The Pakistani recorded 44 runs and took five wickets in the final.
The pressure was on Malaysia to make the chase. Amir Azim Abdul Shukor and Virandeep Singh were first to bat, and the former did well to make 69 runs. However, Virandeep only managed 19 runs.
Captain Ahmad Faiz Noor was the third batsman and did well to make 78 runs. After he was bowled out by Luqman, the Malaysian batters fell one by one.
Captain Ahmad said that it was a disappointing result.
"We lost by 89 runs to a new Cambodia team. We never played against them before. They have players from India and Pakistan.
"Cambodia batted aggressively and managed to get 334 runs. Our main bowler tried his best to contain runs from Cambodia, but they still managed to hit our bowlers.
"We started well in batting. We had a 100-run partnership between myself and Amir Azim. We were in a comfortable zone when we reached 180 runs from only 23 overs.
"But our partnership fell, and we couldn't chase the target.
"We want revenge when we play Cambodia again in the T20 final. We will bounce back and win our first gold here," said Ahmad.
Team manager Amy Mokhzani congratulated Cambodia on their win.
"We will work harder in our coming matches," said Mokhzani.
Malaysia will again face Cambodia in the T20 final on Thursday.
