In the ongoing ICC Asia U-19’s World Cup Qualifier, Nepal U-19 has faced a humiliating loss against the strong Afghanistan side losing by 141 runs.
With this win, Afghanistan remain on top of the table with 3 wins out of 3 matches whereas Nepal remain at 2nd position with 2 wins out of 3 matches. Nepal will now face Singapore, Malaysia and Afghanistan in their final 3 matches of the tournament.
After being asked to bat first, Afghanistan were all out for 190 runs in 49.4 overs. In reply, Nepal were folded for mere 49 runs in 26 overs conceding their 1st defeat of the tournament.
Nepal’s batting failed miserably once again since only one batsman was able to reach the double figures. Pawan Sharraf top scored in Nepal’s batting innings scoring 26 runs of 52 balls which was more than half of the total runs. Opening pair failed once again with an opening stand of just 9 runs in 6 overs before Aasif Sheikh was bowled by Mujeeb Zadran for 6 runs. The other opener Sandeep Sunar was out LBW for just 2 runs.
Following the poor start, other batsmen were also not able to make any significant contribution as Afghanistan opening bowling pair of Skipper Naveen Ul Haq and Mujeeb Zadran were all over Nepal’s batting lineup. Naveen Ul Haq dismissed Dipendra Singh Airee, Pranit Thapa Magar and Anil Shah in the 19th over of the innings to register a rare hattrick in the tournament. Airee scored 4 runs while Pranit and Anil were out for golden ducks.
Right arm off spinner Mujeeb Zadran bowled 9 overs conceding just 7 runs including 5 maidens and picked up 4 wickets while right arm fast medium bowler Naveen Ul-Haq also picked up 4 wickets in his 4 overs conceding just 8 runs including a maiden. Yusuf Zazai and Zahir Khan Bagged 1 wicket each.
Earlier, Afghanistan opening batsmen gave them a pretty good start with an opening stand of 75 runs in the 16th over before Ibrahim Zadran got out to left arm spinner Shahab Alam for 43 runs. Zadran smacked 5 fours and 1 six in 41 balls he faced. The other opener Naveed Obaid scored 33 runs off 56 runs before he was caught and bowled by Pawan Sarraf while no.3 batsman Tariq scored 27 runs. Nepal pulled things back in the middle overs picking up wickets in regular intervals which ensured a total below 200 runs.
Shahab Alam was pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets off his 10 overs conceding 46 runs. While Sandeep Lamichhane was once again amongst the wickets picking up 2 wickets in the final over of the innings. Pawan Sarraf picked up 2 wickets in his 7 overs including 2 maidens conceding just 19 runs. Kishore Mahato and Dipendra Singh Airee also picked up 1 wicket each.
In the last match, Nepal won by 5 wickets against Malaysia. || Scorecard ||
In the other match held today, Singapore won by 127 runs against Malaysia.
Nepal will face Singapore U-19 in their 4th match of the qualifiers on Friday, 21st of July.
The winner of the tournament will qualify through to the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018 to be held in January, in New Zealand. Nepal are bunched up with Malaysia, Afghanistan and the hosts Singapore in the qualifiers.