Kuwait vs Malaysia Prediction: Kuwait had won their first game

Kuwait and Malaysia are locking horns in Match 2 of KCC T20I Tri Nations Cup 2024 at Selangor Turf Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 22nd August 2024. Kuwait had won their first game in this tournament in style. Will it be a case of history repeating itself this time around?

Kuwait will go into the match with momentum after their successful run-chase and winning 3 out of 5 matches in the just concluded ACC Premier Cup in Oman. Clinto Anto has been their key scorer in recent times along with Rajiva Sandaruwan, who is a good developer of innings from the top order. In the middle and lower order, batsmen like Adnan Idrees, Meet Bhavsar, and captain Mohammad Aslam have been pretty consistent and provide the platform for the big hitters. Down at number 7, Bilal Tahir has been more than solid and executed his role as a finisher to perfection in the last game against Hong Kong. With bowlers like main men Idrees, Yasin Patel, Nimish Lathief, and Mohammad Shafeeq opening and following, respectively, Kuwait enjoys a pretty balanced team with match-winners in every department of the game.

Ravija Sandaruwan, Clinto Anto, Bilal Tahir, Muhammad Umar, Meet Bhavsar, Nimish Lathief, Adnan Idrees, Mohammed Aslam, Mohamed Shafeeq, Yasin Patel, Nawaf Ahmed

Malaysia has managed to remain unbeaten in the shortest format against Kuwait in T20I matches, with all three wins previously. They now hope to make it four in a row. They expect it to be much tougher this time, as Kuwait comes into the match off the back of a win at the same venue. Malaysia will need a good batting display, more so if they bat first.

Kuwait chased down 169 runs in their last match very comfortably, which this proves that they do not really lack batting talent also. Malaysia would therefore bank on its key middle order players like Syed Aziz and Ahmed Faiz to come up with a match-winning performance. Muhammad Amir possibly might just have a different opening partner in this crucial game; very possibly Zubaidi Zulfikle will do the honors. Rizwan Haider can be seen as another good all-rounder who can bat well.

Vijay Unni is not in the line-up and, therefore, Pavandeep Singh is set to spearhead the bowling to help win the match against this team. They may look to new match-winners with the ball in Rizwan Haider and Khizar Hayat, as Virandeep Singh and Vijay Unni are not in the lineup.

Muhammad Amir Azim, Zubaidi Zulfikle, Sharvin Muniandy, Syed Aziz Mubarak, Ahmad Faiz (c), Ahmed Aqeel, Nazmus Sakib (wk), Muhammad Wafiq, Rizwan Haider, Khizar Hayat, Pavandeep Singh

The two teams have almost equal overall rosters, only with a couple of key players in each position. Malaysia won't have two of their best players while Kuwait has been showing excellent form lately with a streak of five straight wins. We feel that Kuwait is at an advantage over the home team in this match, so they are likely to be our favorite to win off this prediction. Our pick is for Kuwait to come out on top.