BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 4:
BINOD PANDEY
BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 4:
Nepal confirmed its place in semifinal after beating arch-rival Afghanistan by 6 wickets in the ACC U-19 Elite Cup cricket tournament at AIT Ground, Bangkok on Friday. This is the seventh time that Nepal has secured semifinal spot in the eight editions of the event so far.
Nepal bowled out Afghanistan for 125 runs in 42.3 overs and scored 127 losing 4 wickets in 26.4 overs for the comprehensive victory. Earlier, Nepal had elected to field after winning the vital toss.
Following their entry to semifinal, Nepal also confirmed a place in U-19 Asian Cup to be held in India later this year. Along with the Test playing nations of Asia -- India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan -- other top four teams of the Elite Cup will compete in the Asia Cup.
Pace bowler Avinash Karn set the tone taking a wicket off the first ball of the innings after which the Afghanistan batsmen never took off. Karn followed by two more wickets while his opening partner Krishna Karki supported well with a wicket and disciplined bowling.
Karn took the return catch offered by Afsar Khan, who had scored century against Thailand, on the first ball. Hashmatullah (3) holed out to mid-on off Krishna Karki in the fifth over.
Karn, having changed his bowling end, got Younas Khan and Najibullah out to restrict Afghanistan at 24/4 in 10 overs. From then on, while Afghanis struggled to score, Nepali bowlers tried to keep them restricted.
Pradeep Airee and Rahul BK claimed two wickets each while Krishna Karki and Bhuwan Karki took one wicket each for Nepal to end Afghanistan innings early. For Afghanistan, Mohibullah Paak topscored with 30 and Rahmatullah Sahaq got 29.
Nepal lost Faizlur Khan, who had scored century two days ago, early but not before he hit two consecutive sixes. He made 14 and Nepal went to lunch at 39/1 in 6 overs. Nepal lost Sagar Pun (8) and Prithu Baskota (9) without much contribution but Subash Khakurel stayed long enough to build a good foundation. Khakurel scored 23 off 51.
Naresh Budayer then took charge, having survived when he was on 0 and 4. He remained unbeaten on 42 off 48 balls along with Pradeep Airee (10 off 13 balls) for the morale-boosting victory.
The victory against Afghanistan also became a wonderful birthday gift for skipper Baskota. Two years earlier, Baskota had scored 81 runs in the last edition of the Elite Cup against Afghanistan but Nepal were defeated by four wickets in the semifinal.
Nepal will now play hosts Thailand in the last league match at the same ground on Saturday.
"We bowled line to line and the spinners Bhuwan and Rahul did just the right thing. No doubt we would have struggled batting first because for 90 minutes in the morning the wicket was very difficult," says victorious coach Jagata Tamata.
In group A, Qatar defeated holders Hong Kong by 11 runs for a place in last four.
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