Germany and Austria produced the closest finish of the tournament so far with the Austrians scraping home by just six runs in a last over finish.
Set 158 for victory, Austria needed eight runs of the last over with two wickets left but Sohaib Farooq bowled Tushar Marwaha with his second ball, conceded just a single and then bowled last man Dimuth Thawalama with his fifth delivery to spark wild Austria celebrations.
Captain Ciju Puthuppally dominated the Austria innings with 63 from a patient 101 balls. He hit only two fours in his stay of 33 overs but when he was fourth out with the total of 128, the Austrians added only 29 runs in the last seven overs while losing five more wickets. Tushar Marwaha took three for 26 and Jaskaran Singh three for 29, both bowling their full quota of eight overs.
Singh then led Germany’s chase and when they were 90 for the loss of one wicket after just 18 overs, a German victory looked a formality. But, as so often happens, a run out derailed the innings and when Harmanjot Singh failed to make his ground Germany lost six wickets for 29 runs, including Singh for 55.
Still, an eighth wicket stand between Konrad Fuchs and Kamran Nadeem got their side to within 17 runs of victory with 23 balls remaining. But Faiz Chatta then had Fuchs caught by his captain and Farooq’s two wickets in the last over gave Austria the thrilling win.