Maltese cricket team in Bulgaria in 2020–21

The Malta cricket team toured Bulgaria in September 2020 to play four Twenty20 International (T20I) matches.[1][2] The matches were played on 23 and 24 September at the National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski" in Sofia, and were the first official T20I matches played in Bulgaria since the ICC announced that all matches between its member nations would be eligible for this status.[1][3] Following the T20I series, the two sides played an additional four friendly T20 matches in the town of Gabrovo, 200 km west of Sofia, with the Bulgarians using those matches to give chances to players who would be eligible to play official matches for the national team from 2021.[1][4] Malta won the T20I series 2–0 after both matches on the second day were abandoned due to rain.[5][6]

Maltese cricket team in Bulgaria in 2020–21
 
  Bulgaria Malta
Dates 23 – 24 September 2020
Captains Prakash Mishra Samuel Aquilina
Twenty20 International series
Results Malta won the 4-match series 2–0
Most runs Kiran Dasan (78) Heinrich Gericke (114)
Most wickets Sulaiman Ali (2)
Bakhtiar Tahiri (2)
Prakash Mishra (2)		 Noshair Akhter (4)
Amar Sharma (4)
Salu Thomas Kanakalil (4)
Player of the series Heinrich Gericke (Mlt)

Squads
 Bulgaria[1]  Malta[1]
  • Prakash Mishra (c)
  • Agagyul Ahmadhel
  • Sulaiman Ali
  • Rohan Bhavesh Patel
  • Kevin D'Souza
  • Aravinda De Silva
  • Kiran Dasan (wk)
  • Boiko Ivanov
  • Hristo Ivanov (wk)
  • Ivaylo Katzarski
  • Hristo Lakov (vc)
  • Fayaz Mohammad
  • Bakhtiar Tahiri
  • Delrick Varghese
  • Samuel Aquilina (c)/(wk)
  • Washeem Abbas
  • Noshair Akhter
  • Sujesh Appu
  • Gopal Chaturvedi
  • Heinrich Gericke
  • Michael Goonetilleke
  • Salu Thomas Kanakalil
  • Zeeshan Khan
  • Haroon Mughal
  • Amar Sharma (vc)
  • Ravinder Singh
  • Samuel Mangat Stanislaus
  • Varun Thamotharam

T20I series

1st T20I
23 September 2020
10:00
Scorecard
Malta 
216/8 (20 overs)
v
 Bulgaria
159/8 (20 overs)
Ravinder Singh 34 (18)
Sulaiman Ali 2/27 (2.1 overs)
Kiran Dasan 31 (25)
Salu Thomas Kanakalil 4/31 (4 overs)
Malta won by 57 runs
National Sports Academy, Sofia
Umpires: Subhas Roy (Mlt) and Nisarg Shah (Bul)
  • Malta won the toss and elected to bat.
  • Sulaiman Ali, Kevin D'Souza, Aravinda De Silva, Rohan Bhavesh Patel, Bakhtiar Tahiri, Delrick Varghese (Bul), Noshair Akhter, Heinrich Gericke, Salu Thomas Kanakalil, Amar Sharma, Samuel Mangat Stanislaus and Varun Thamotharam (Mlt) all made their T20I debuts.

2nd T20I
23 September 2020
14:30
Scorecard
Bulgaria 
184/6 (20 overs)
v
 Malta
185/2 (18.5 overs)
Kiran Dasan 47 (39)
Noshair Akhter 3/35 (4 overs)
Heinrich Gericke 91 (54)
Agagyul Ahmadhel 1/22 (2 overs)
Malta won by 8 wickets
National Sports Academy, Sofia
Umpires: Subhas Roy (Mlt) and Nisarg Shah (Bul)
  • Bulgaria won the toss and elected to bat.

3rd T20I
24 September 2020
10:00
Scorecard
Bulgaria 
6/0 (0.3 overs)
v
Fayaz Mohammad 5* (2)
No result
National Sports Academy, Sofia
Umpires: Ivan Dimitrov (Bul) and Subhas Roy (Mlt)
  • Malta won the toss and elected to field.
  • Only three deliveries were possible due to rain.
  • Fayaz Mohammad (Bul) and Zeeshan Khan (Mlt) both made their T20I debuts.

4th T20I
24 September 2020
14:30
Scorecard
v
Match abandoned
National Sports Academy, Sofia
Umpires: Ivan Dimitrov (Bul) and Subhas Roy (Mlt)
  • No toss
  • No play was possible due to rain.

References
  1. "Bulgaria set to host Malta for men's T20 series". Emerging Cricket. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  2. "For the first time in 2020, due to the interrupted calendar of the World Cricket of COVID-19, Bulgaria's national team comes to official meetings from ICC against Malta national team". Bulgarian Cricket Federation (via Facebook). 21 September 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  3. "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  4. "Malta to visit Bulgaria for T20Is". Cricket Europe. 22 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  5. "Malta national cricket team complete clean sweep in Bulgaria". Sports Desk (Times of Malta). Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  6. "Global Game: Dean Jones' Associate connection". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
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