Afghanistan routs Nepal, faces Hong Kong in final

KATHMANDU, Dec 9: Nepal faced a humiliating nine-wicket defeat against Afghanistan in the semifinal of the ACC Twenty20 Cup cricket tournament at the TU Cricket Stadium on Friday.

After a delayed start due to fog, Nepal posted 68 runs for 9 wickets in 16 overs. Afghanistan surpassed the target in 9.2 overs losing a wicket. [break]

Karim Sadiq scored 32 of 27 balls whereas Shabir Noori made 27 of 22 balls for the victory.

In another semifinal, Hong Kong registered three-wicket victory over Oman confirming spot for Sunday´s final. Oman scored 142 runs losing six wickets off allocated 20 overs. Hong Kong needed 19.3 overs to reach the total losing seven wickets.

Nepal will meet Oman in the third place playoff on Saturday morning at the TU Cricket Ground.

Nepal won the toss and elected to bat first. The batsmen only managed to post 68 runs on board. Nepali batsmen failed to defend the team from Afghanistan´s bowling and threw away wickets in regular intervals.

After tight overs from Hamid Hassan and Daulat Zardan, opener Subash Khakurel played a bad shot in the fourth over. Mehboob Alam, who scored match winning 88 against Saudi Arabia, gave away his wicket in the same over.

Anil Mandal, who scored 6 off 19 balls, and vice-captain Gyanendra Malla were also out cheaply.

Basanta Regmi played some strokes against disciplined Afghani bowlers but could only score 10 runs off 13 balls with a six. Regmi´s six was the first boundary of Nepal´s innings.

Skipper Paras Khadka resisted the bowling for the long time and scored 30 runs off 29 balls that included a huge six. Prithu Baskota, Pradip Airee and Binod Das returned to the pavilion cheaply.

Zadran was the most successful Afghani bowler as he took four wickets for 13 runs. Mohammad Zamir Khan took two wickets while Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi grabbed a wicket each.

Nepali coach Pubudu Dassanayake rued batting for the loss. “We were 20-25 runs short of the total as we knew Afghani players are not good run chasers,” he said.

He further added that the team is missing a batsman who can score good runs. “We have enough time for the next tournament and improvement will be seen,” the coach added.

Khadka said that the team could not bat well against good bowling of Afghanistan. “Though the wicket in the starting of the match was not bad, the extra pace of Afghani bowlers was too much for us. We were outplayed.”

“We have enough time for the next tournament and we need to be camped abroad prior the tournament. India will be best place for the camp,” added Skipper Khadka.

In another semifinal, Oman won the toss and batted first. Vaibhav Wategaonkar´s unbeaten 56 runs off 46 balls with four boundaries and two huge sixes guided Oman to the total of 142 runs.

Oman had good opening stand of 36 runs off just 4 overs. With the fall of first wicket Oman continued to lose wickets in regular intervals but they also scored runs. Zeeshan Siddiqui scored quick fire 42 off just 34 balls that included nine boundaries.

Irfan Ahmed was the successful bowler for Hong Kong as he grabbed three wickets conceding 20 runs. Munir Dar, Nadeem Ahmeed and Roy Lamsam shared a wicket apiece.

Hong Kong did not start well as they lost wickets in regular intervals. Aggressive batsman Irfan Ahmed was out scoring 23 runs off 10 balls with two boundaries and as many sixes. Man of the match Munir Dar rescued Hong Kong from losing the match as he scored not out 76 runs off 46 balls that included eight boundaries and three huge sixes.

Hemal Mehta and Ajay Lalcheta grabbed wickets each for Hong Kong while Rajesh Kumar Ranpura and Amir Ali shared a wicket each.