The Men’s Japan National Team overcame a spirited Bhutan side thanks to two outstanding individual performances with bat and ball.

Ibrahim Takahashi struck an explosive half century before Declan Suzuki (playing his 50th T20 International for Japan) took five wickets, both careers bests, as Japan finished unbeaten in the group stage of the Thailand Open Series in Bangkok.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Japan showed similar intent as they had in the win over Bahrain the previous day, but the momentum was curtailed as form openner Abishek Anand was dismissed at the end of the third over for 17.

Captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming (34 from 29 balls) and Alex Shirai-Patmore (43 from 43) were forced to regroup after Sabaorish Ravichandran was cleaned up by Karmaa Dorji. Their partnership of 58 from 50 balls laying the platform for Takahashi to launch.

Five boundaries and four sixes later, Takahashi had his maiden T20I half century (54* from 21 balls) and the team finished 170 for six, with 71 of those coming from the 39 balls Takahashi was at the crease.

Bhutan started well in the chase, taking 17 from the first over, but Declan Suzuki struck twice in his first over and again in his second to really put the breaks on. He returned later in the innings to help wrap things up, taking two in successive balls again to finish with five for 20 from his four overs.

Abdul Samad and Kohei Kubota both collected two wickets each as Japan bowled Bhutan all out for 93 in 18.2 overs to record a comfortable 77-run win.

In the final match of the group stages played in the afternoon, Bahrain were able to defeat the hosts Thailand and secure their place in the Final on Saturday afternoon.

The full match schedule is as follows: 

Tournament Matches:

• 25th February (Wednesday) 11:00 Thailand vs Japan (Japan won by 37 runs)
• 26th February (Thursday) 15:30 Bahrain vs Japan (Japan won by 8 wickets)
• 27th February (Friday) 11:00 Bhutan vs Japan (Japan won by 77 runs)
• 28th February (Saturday) 15:00 Japan vs Bahrain

*Thailand is 2 hours behind Japan

**Following the first three rounds of matches there will be a third-place play off at 11:00 and a final at 15:30. 

All matches are live streamed on the Cricket Thailand Facebook page where replays can also be found.

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