KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — Malaysia, spearheaded by a superb 79 run feat by Virandeep Singh, opened the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games men’s 50 overs cricket competition in style by beating Thailand by 160 runs at the Kinrara Oval, today.

Thailand, chasing Malaysia’s 265 runs for five wickets, could only manage 105 runs in 35 overs (all out).

Virandeep was later named man-of-the-match.

Cricket, introduced in the SEA Games programme for the first time, features Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Myanmar.

Team manager Shanker Retinam said the team had watched the match between Thailand and Myanmar yesterday in the round robin format before planning the strategy for today’s match.

"We analysed the match between Thailand and Myanmar yesterday and planned our strategy after watching Thailand beat Myanmar by nine wickets,” he told reporters after the match. — Bernama