This was the fourth edition of the women's Gulf Cup, which had been contested annually between 2014 and 2016.[1] The inaugural event in 2014 was hosted in Oman, was contested by Oman, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar, and was won by UAE who defeated Kuwait by 49 runs in the final.[5] Qatar hosted the event in 2015, which saw UAE retain the title by defeating the hosts by five wickets in the final following a round-robin stage that also involved Oman.[6] The 2016 edition was played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, and was contested by UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and guest teams from Kenya, Malaysia and Uganda.[7] Kenya won the 2016 title with a five wicket win over UAE in the final.[8]
Kuwait named Noora Bahurudeen and Reema Bahurudeen as reserves.[11] Qatar included Manjiri Bawane, Sneha Chandnani, Fatima Saeed and Sharon Williams as reserves.[13]
Oman won by 96 runs Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 2, Muscat Umpires: Azad KR (Oma) and Navaneetha Krishnan (Oma) Player of the match: Priyanka Mendonca (Oma)
Bahrain won the toss and elected to field.
Nayan Anil, Saya Channa, Amanda Dcosta (Oma), Deepika Bhaskara, Gayani Fernando, Tharanga Gajanayake, Rasika Hathadurage, Prajna Jagdeesha, Sachini Jayasinghe, Shashikala Prakash, Rasika Rodrigo, Pavithra Shetty and Abeera Waris (Bhr) all made their WT20I debuts.
Deepika Rasangika also made her WT20I debut for Bahrain after previously playing 32 WT20Is for Sri Lanka.
United Arab Emirates won by 8 wickets Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 2, Muscat Umpires: Azad KR (Oma) and Samir Sattar (Oma) Player of the match: Khushi Sharma (UAE)
Kuwait won by 10 wickets Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 2, Muscat Umpires: Venketson Karthikeyan (Oma) and Azad KR (Oma) Player of the match: Maria Jasvi (Kuw)
Kuwait won the toss and elected to field.
Mah Noor Amir, Emaan Ejaz, Zoha Irfan, Amna Khan, Maira Khan, Khazaima, Abeer Maryam, Simrah Mirza, Ruba Rashid, Rida Syeda and Cheryl Sewsunker (Sau) all made their WT20I debuts.
Qatar won by 4 runs Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 2, Muscat Umpires: Navaneetha Krishnan (Oma) and Samir Sattar (Oma) Player of the match: Shahreen Bahadur (Qat)
Qatar won the toss and elected to bat.
Swarna Nunna and Asha Samildeen (Bhr) both made their WT20I debuts.
The unbroken 255-run partnership between Tharanga Gajanayake and Deepika Rasangika (Bhr) was the highest for the second wicket, and two runs short of the record for any wicket, in WT20Is.[21]
Oman won by 47 runs Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 1, Muscat Umpires: Navaneetha Krishnan (Oma) and Samir Sattar (Oma) Player of the match: Sakshi Shetty (Oma)
United Arab Emirates won by 10 wickets Oman Cricket Academy Ground Turf 2, Muscat Umpires: Azad KR (Oma) and Zaman Quoraishi (Oma) Player of the match: Lavanya Keny (UAE)
United Arab Emirates won the toss and elected to field.