THAILAND WIN ACC WOMEN’S PREMIER CUP
June 13, 2026
THAILAND REACH SEMI-FINALS OF ACC MEN’S CHALLENGER CUP IN SINGAPORE
With the women’s team making most of the headlines in recent months, the Thailand men’s team are competing in the 50-over aside ACC Men’s Challenger Cup in Singapore. They reached the semi-finals back in 2024 when the competition was held in Bangkok and they have repeated the feat by beating Maldives in the quarter-finals by the impreesive margin of 95 runs.
The tournament had been expanded to 10 teams this year but Thailand’s only scheduled match so far had been washed out. Cambodia had forfeited their two matches and with two more matches abandoned, there hadn’t been much cricket played so Thailand had been in Singapore for more than a week before getting into action.
Thailand men’s team have a good record in the 50-over tournaments they take part in and they put together an impressive performance with the bat as they reached 296 in an innings reduced to 45 overs.
Akshay Yadav made a solid 54 from 76 balls which allowed captain Austin Lazarus to go for his shots as he made a brilliant 92 from 63 balls with 11 fours and 3 sixes. The middle-order also hit out strongly as Chanchai Pengkumpta reached 31 from 19 balls and Pattarapol Jiratananukul made 29 from 13 balls.
Maldives would have to bat well to chase the target down but they lost an early wicket as Chanchai took a wicket with the new ball and the Thailand fielding backed up some accurate bowling from the spinners as there were no fewer than five run outs in the Maldives innings.
Shafraz Jaleel and Hassan Rasheed both reached 40 but the return of the opening bowlers brought a quick end to the Maldives innings for 201 as Chanchai finished with figures of 3 for 34.
The semi-final line-up is now known with Malaysia facing Thailand and Singapore playing Indonesia. The winners of the two matches will be promoted to the Premier Cup which will be played later in the year where 10 teams compete to win a place in the 50-over Asia Cup.
Thailand lost to Bahrain in the semi-finals of the Challenger Cup in 2024 but now they have another chance to gain promotion to the elite level of ACC cricket.