Afghanistan, with One-Day International (ODI) status and qualifier for the ICC World Cup Twenty20, added one more feather to their cap at the Hubara Cricket Ground on Friday. They had also won the ACC Twenty20 five months ago. [break]
Afghanistan bowled out Nepal for 128 runs in 40 overs in a chase of 225 runs and registered a comfortable 96-run victory.
Nepal, who defeated Malaysia in the semifinal, won the toss and elected to field first. Nepali skipper Paras Khadka surprised everyone by starting a bowling attack with spinner Shakti Gauchan. However, Nepal got the breakthrough in the sixth over.
Nepali Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla trapped Afghani opener N Ali run out. Two balls later, M Shazad was caught behind by wicketkeeper Mahesh Chhetri in former skipper Binod Das´s bowling.
At one point, Afghanistan were 39/3 but Karim Sadiq, Raees Ahmadzi and Mohammad Nabi anchored the innings and took Afghanistan to a defending total of 224.
Binod Das took three wickets while Paras Khadka and Rahul BK took two wickets each as Afghanistan´s formidable batting lineup struggled to make runs and bowled out Afghanistan for 224 runs in limited 50 overs.
Sadiq topscored with 58 runs while Ahamdzi hit 52 and Nabi was out for 48. M Ashraf and Sadiq featured in a 59-run partnership for the fourth wicket while Nabi and Ahmadzi played well for a 97-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Nabi and Ahmadzi rescued the team from 114/6.
Nepal´s reply was disastrous and could not create any good partnership. Mahesh Chhetri and Anil Mandal´s opening pair failed for the second consecutive time in crucial matches.
M Ashraf and Nowroz Mangal claimed two wickets each while S Zadran, Nabi, S Samiullah and H Hassan took one wicket each to damage the Nepali innings. Sharad Veswakar topscored with 35 runs while Gyanendra Malla made 30 runs.
The highest partnership in the Nepali innings was 26 runs between Vesawkar and Malla. Skipper Khadka´s 11 runs and Sanjam Regmi´s equal runs were other major contributions. Otherwise, no Nepali batsman scored double digit.
Nepal had lost to Afghanistan in the semifinal of the World Cricket League Division 5 in Jersey in 2008 by 47 runs in their last encounter. Likewise, Nepal had suffered defeat against Afghanistan in the third-place playoffs of the 2006 and 2008 ACC Trophy.
The only time Nepal beat Afghanistan was in the 2004 ACC Trophy but then Afghanistan were just new entrants to world cricket then.
Nepal were playing the ACC Elite Trophy for the second time in its history. Nepal had lost to the UAE in Singapore in the 2002 final.
| Afghanistan Innings 224 all out (Overs 50) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| K Sadiq | c P Khadka | b R Biwhwakarma | 58 | 105 | 2 | 2 |
| N Ali | run out G Malla | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
| M Shahzad+ | c M Chhetri | b B Das | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| N Mangal* | c A Mandal | b B Das | 14 | 14 | 3 | 0 |
| M Ashraf | c G Malla | b R Biwhwakarma | 24 | 26 | 1 | 2 |
| A Stanikzai | run out B Regmi | 6 | 18 | 0 | 0 | |
| R Ahmadzi | c D Chaudhary | b P Khadka | 52 | 64 | 5 | 1 |
| M Nabi | st M Chhetri | b B Regmi | 48 | 46 | 1 | 2 |
| S Samiullah | b P Khadka | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| H Hassan | not out | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| S Zadran | b B Das | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b0 lb3 w2 nb0) | 5 | ||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 224 |
| FOW |
| 1-14(N Ali) 2-14(M Shahzad) 3-39(N Mangal) 4-98(M Ashraf) 5-110(K Sadiq) 6-114(A Stanikzai) 7-211(M Nabi) 8-217(R Ahmadzi) 9-217(S Samiullah) 10-224(S Zadran) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| SP Gauchan | 10 | 0 | 44 | 0 | - | - |
| B Das | 8 | 2 | 35 | 3 | 1 | - |
| P Khadka | 8 | 1 | 35 | 2 | - | - |
| B Regmi | 10 | 1 | 44 | 1 | - | - |
| R Biwhwakarma | 9 | 0 | 40 | 2 | 1 | - |
| S Regmi | 5 | 0 | 23 | 0 | - | - |
| Nepal Innings 128 All Out (Overs 40) |
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| M Chhetri+ | c M Shahzad | b M Ashraf | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| A Mandal | c A Stanikzai | b M Ashraf | 5 | 11 | 1 | 0 |
| SP Gauchan | c M Nabi | b S Zadran | 6 | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| P Khadka* | lbw | b M Nabi | 11 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| G Malla | run out M Shahzad/H Hass. | 30 | 43 | 3 | 0 | |
| S Vesawkar | run out M Ashraf/N Manga. | 35 | 62 | 3 | 0 | |
| B Regmi | b N Mangal | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| D Chaudhary | b H Hassan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| B Das | c M Shahzad | b S Samiullah | 8 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| S Regmi | not out | 11 | 22 | 0 | 0 | |
| R Biwhwakarma | b N Mangal | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| extras | (b0 lb1 w10 nb1) | 12 | ||||
| TOTAL | 10 wickets for | 128 |
| FOW |
| 1-16(M Chhetri) 2-18(A Mandal) 3-28(SP Gauchan) 4-49(P Khadka) 5-75(G Malla) 6-85(B Regmi) 7-86(D Chaudhary) 8-102(B Das) 9-124(S Vesawkar) 10-128(R Biwhwakarma) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | wd | nb |
| S Zadran | 7 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 1 | - |
| M Ashraf | 7 | 0 | 31 | 2 | 5 | - |
| M Nabi | 7 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 1 | - |
| S Samiullah | 10 | 1 | 32 | 1 | - | - |
| H Hassan | 6 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 2 | - |
| N Mangal | 3 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | - |
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