The Maldives has concluded its run in the ACC Men's Challenge Cup 2026 after competing against Thailand in the quarter-finals, exiting at the quarter-final stage.

The quarter-final match played today ended with Thailand defeating the Maldives by 95 runs. However, a spirited and courageous performance was witnessed from the Maldivian side.

The Maldives won the toss in today's match and elected to bowl first. In this innings, Thailand scored 296 runs, losing all their wickets within 45 overs. During this innings, Maldivian all-rounder Amarasinghe took seven wickets. Additionally, Leem Shafeeg, Ahmed Ameel Mauroof, and Ibrahim Rizan each took one wicket.

From the match where Myanmar and Maldives faced each other in the group stage.-- Photo: Cricket Maldives

In reply, while having to chase a big score, the Maldives concluded their innings with 201 runs, losing 10 players within 39.2 overs. Maldivian captain Hassan Rasheed scored 46 runs off 48 balls in this innings.

The Maldives had never previously progressed past the group stage in this tournament, which serves as a qualifier for the ACC Premier Cup and the Asian Cup. However, the Maldives secured a spot in the quarter-finals this year with an excellent performance.

In their first match of the group stage, they competed against Singapore and were defeated by six wickets. In this match, Maldivian player Leem Shafeeq scored 43 runs off 46 balls.

Despite losing the first match, the Maldives competed against Myanmar in their second match and scored 340 runs, losing all players within 50 overs, and won the match by 221 runs.

Three Maldivian players scored half-centuries in this match. The best-performing player, Ismail Ali, scored 99 runs off 56 balls within 15.2 overs. He hit 11 fours and seven sixes.

Additionally, Mohamed Jayamal Yapa scored 69 runs off 91 balls, while Yoosuf Azyan scored 57 runs off 71 balls.

With this, the Maldives advanced to the quarter-finals as the runner-up of the group.

The two teams that reach the final of the tournament will qualify for the ACC Men's Premier Cup, and qualification for next year's Asian Cup will be achieved through that tournament.