Asian Games: Malaysia enter quarter-finals after washout, Oman knocked out

Quarter-final line-ups: Afghanistan vs India, Hong Kong vs Pakistan, Bangladesh vs Malaysia and Nepal vs Sri Lanka

Match abandoned Malaysia vs Oman

After rain prevented more than 15 overs of play from taking place in the first Asian Games men's cricket contest on Saturday, between Japan and Nepal, it made sure not a ball was bowled in the second game, between Malaysia and Oman.

That meant heartbreak for Oman, like it was for Japan earlier in the day, as they crashed out of the competition. For Malaysia, though, the outcome worked just fine as they qualified for the quarter-finals as the Group B table-toppers, with Hong Kong joining them in the knockouts. Nepal and Afghanistan had made the cut from Group A earlier in the day.

The four teams will now take on the four top-seeded teams, who had qualified for the quarter-finals directly. Afghanistan will take on India and Hong Kong will face Pakistan in the two quarter-finals on Monday, while Malaysia face Bangladesh and Nepal go up against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

With the first round pitting three teams each in two groups, and the matches taking place in a single-round format - two games for each team - a single loss was always going to hurt. That's what happened with Oman, who had lost their opening fixture to Hong Kong by 41 runs, failing to chase down the 122-run target. Malaysia, meanwhile, had beaten Hong Kong in their first game, getting to their 82-run target with 48 balls left in the chase.

In the other group too, two matches that had results decided the placements, with Nepal's win over Afghanistan enough to make them the top team, and Afghanistan's win over Japan giving them the second spot.