Malaysia clean sweep Indonesia in T20I series
By: RF Hobson
Malaysia dominated the fourth and final match against Indonesia with a comprehensive five-wicket victory to secure a ruthless clean sweep of the T20I series in Kuala Lumpur.
Indonesia’s chances of a consolation victory on tour crashed after winning the toss and electing to bat. Their top-order were stifled by accurate bowling and forced them to be defensive, resulting in Pavandeep Singh claiming Dharma Kesuma’s scalp in the second over.
With very little appetite for single runs and the inability to hit big further saw the visitors remain anchored at the crease as they crashed further when Pavandeep claimed Gede Priandana and Gede Arta as part of a double wicket maiden in the sixth over.
Malaysia were on a roll and the pressure told on Kavin Chadda, who was caught by Muhamad Syahadat off the red-hot Pavandeep, who finished with the remarkable figures of 4-3 off 4 overs.
A flash of inspiration in the ninth over, courtesy of Anjar Tadarus and Kadek Gamantika, finally had Indonesia making runs off every ball. But that still was not enough to rouse their spirits, losing Tadarus in 11th over.
An lbw decision against skipper Danilson Howoe off Pavandeep all but cemented the woes of the visitors.
They slumped further with the dismissals of Sampath Karvi in the 13th over and Apriliandi Rahayu two overs later.
A last hurrah of three boundaries from Kadek Gramantika and Ketut Arwan proved too little too late for the Indonesians, losing the latter to Syed Aziz in the final over as they finished with the lowly total of 73 for 9.
In reply, the anticipated cakewalk by Malaysia did not materialise early in their innings as they started in similar fashion to Indonesia.
Perhaps the need to claw back some honour had a pumped-up Howoe claiming the wickets of Muhammad Haziq Aiman and Muhammad Amir within the opening four overs.
A sudden outburst of two boundaries and a six by the talismanic Virandeep Singh in the sixth over got Malaysia back into the groove and threatening an early end to the one-sided contest.
Sensing this, the visitors stepped up the attack which finally resulted in Virandeep holing out to Howoe off Ferdinando Banunaek.
With the dangerman gone, Indonesia sought to limit Malaysia’s run rate and it yielded the scalp of Amir Khan in the ninth over.
Another burst of big hits by Syahadat, who finished unbeaten on 33 from 40 balls, in the 10th over effectively ended the contest as Malaysia stormed to 61-4 at the halfway point.
Indonesia picked up the consolation wicket of Zubaidi Zulkifle in the 12th over and they ended their tour fighting right to the end. But it wasn’t nearly enough as Malaysia stormed to the target with 29 balls to spare to complete a flawless series triumph.