China's baptism of fire in cricketing circuit continues; bag string of low totals vs Thailand and Malaysia

Known for being a force to be reckoned with in the Olympics, there were a lot of eyes set on China's debut in the cricketing circuit as the Wang Qi-led side squared off against Malaysia in the curtain raiser of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia B Qualifier in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, July 26. However, to the disappointment of the Chinese fans their team couldn't even manage to put up a fight and got bundled out for just 23 after winning the toss and electing to bat first.

China were blown away by the swing of Syazrul Idrus who became the first bowler in the history of T20Is to claim a seven-for. Idrus kept bringing the ball into the Chinese batters and they just couldn't counter the same. All seven of Idrus' wickets came as bowled. He was awarded the Player of the Match and finished with figures of 4-1-8-7.

Six of China's batters couldn't trouble the scorers at all as they registered ducks. Opener Wei Guo Lei was the highest run-getter for the side having scored seven off 15 balls. Out of the 23 that they could manage to aggregate, five runs came as extras. It took Malaysia just 29 deliveries to get to the target and they eventually won the contest by eight wickets.

After such a dismal beginning to their cricketing journey, China needed to make a strong comeback in their second game against Thailand but it was always going to be an uphill task given they had hardly 24 hours to prepare. Having watched how the Chinese batters struggled to put bat to ball in the first game, Thailand skipper Akshaykumar Yadav won the toss and elected to field first and landed repeated blows to bundle the Wang Qi-led side for just 26.

Having surrendered to the swing of Syazrul in their first game, Chinese batters were outfoxed by the conventional left-arm spin of Nopphon Senamontree who snared four scalps while conceding just nine runs. Thailand's batters flew past China's paltry total and went over the line in just 4.1 overs with nine wickets in hand.

Lowest team totals in T20I history