KATHMANDU, March 27: Nepal U-19 national cricket team has won the fourth and final 50-over match by 9 runs against the Andhra Pradesh U-19 state cricket team at Andhra Pradesh Cricket Association ground in India on Tuesday. Batting first, Nepal scored 221 runs before bundling out the home team for 212 runs.
All-rounder Pawan Sarraf, Kushal Malla, and Bhim Sarki shared two wickets each to give Nepal U-19 a thrilling win in the final of the four-match practice series. Similarly, pace bowlers Kamal Singh Airee, Rashid Khan and left-arm spinner Sagar Dhakal shared a wicket each to complete the third win against the host team Andhra. Nepal lost the 2nd match before making a comeback, ultimately winning the series 3-1.
At one point, Andhra was looking good to win the match with 132 runs for the loss of one wicket. Andhra opening batsmen Nitesh Kumar and Harshvardhan scored 74 and 36 runs respectively to give home team a perfect platform to square the series.
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Dhakal dismissed the highest scorer of the match, Kumar, at the score of 132 from where Andhra's collapse started as it lost another eight wickets adding just eighty runs. Yogananda, Durga Kumar, and MK Dutta Reddy scored 20, 25, and 21 runs respectively. But they couldn’t prevent the defeat.
Earlier, Nepal batted first and made the total of 221 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 50 overs. At one stage, Nepal was struggling at 133 runs for the loss of eight wickets. All rounder Malla and Rashid Khan shared a crucial partnership of 67 runs to bail Nepal out of trouble and post a respectable total. Malla stayed undefeated on 48 runs whereas Khan smashed 41 runs before being dismissed. Malla registered two fours and two sixes during his 57-ball stay.
Similarly, Khan took 40 deliveries for his innings which included four boundaries and a six.
Opening batsman Sarraf, skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel, middle order batsman Bhim Sarki, and wicket-keeper Rit Gautam contributed 32, 22, 17 and 15 runs respectively to the Nepal total. Durga, Reddy and Mahesh Madhav shared two wickets each for the home team Andhra.
Nepal won the first match of the series by 62 runs before losing the second match by 72 runs. Similarly, Nepal won the third match by a wicket and fourth match by 9 runs to complete the series win.
Nepal is in India to prepare for the ICC World Cup Qualifiers Asia Division 1 set to be held in Malaysia next month. The winner of the qualifier will reach the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup to be hosted in Thailand in 2020.
