KUALA LAMPUR, Sept 16: Nepal U-19 cricket team is all set to face the host Malaysia on Saturday in the semifinal of the ongoing ACC U-19 Eastern Region Cricket Tournament. Securing a final berth will guarantee Nepal’s place in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup being held next year.
Nepal booked its place in the last four of the tournament as the Group A winner with an improved batting along with a fine bowling form.
None of the teams in the group, comprising of Bhutan, Thailand and Singapore, was able to give a tough challenge to Nepal in any of the group stage matches.
Nepal had won against Thailand with 255 runs in its first match and had defeated Bhutan by nine wickets in the second. Likewise, it had beat Singapore by seven wickets in the last group match.
Coach Binod Das has said that it will play its usual game, and it won’t be difficult for the team to become the champions if the climate favored.
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Host Malaysia, who had won the first two of its group matches but had lost the third to Hong Kong by six wickets, is the runner-up of Group B. Malaysia is a familiar opponent for Nepal.
In the U-19 age group category, Nepal has gained victory in 13 of the 14 matches it has played against Malaysia.
Nepal had defeated Malaysia twice, each time by five wickets, in the U-19 World Cup qualifiers held in July. The only time Malaysia had won was at a match for ACC U-19 Elite Cup, in which it had defeated Nepal by six wickets in the third-place playoff.
After failing for the World Cup qualifiers due to poor batting, Nepal has improved its performance in this tournament. For that, Nepal has made four changes in the team that had played during the qualifiers.
Former captain of U-16 Sumit Maharjan, all rounder Sandeep Jora, leg spinner Bikram Kumar Bhusal and fast bowler Nandan Yadav were called in for the squad for the ongoing tournament by replacing batsman Aadil Khan, wicket-keeper Prakash KC, fast bowler Rijan Dhakal, and spinner Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi.
Nepal will face Asian test playing nations if they get a place in the Asia Cup. Dipendra Singh Airee, who is leading the team from this tournament, has said that the tournament was very important to prove itself qualified to face the big teams.
In the match played at Club Aman Cricket Ground, Nepal had batted first after losing the toss, setting a target of 281 runs at the loss of seven wickets. However, Thailand was all limited to just 26 runs in 10 overs.
Nepal had then defeated Bhutan in the second match by limiting it to just 50 runs in 28 overs. In reply, Nepal had chased the target of 51 runs in 8.9 overs. While in last match, Nepal had defeated Singapore by seven wickets after chasing a target of 68 runs in just 13.4 overs.
Nepali bowlers played brilliantly in all three group stage matches. Spinner Sandeep Lamichhane took seven wickets in the first match and is currently the highest wicket taker of the tournament with 12 wickets to his credit. Airee claimed five wickets in the second match while Pawan Sharraf added six wickets to Nepal’s tally in the third match.
Among the batsmen, Nepal’s Anil Kumar Shah is second in the highest run-scorer chart with 91 runs from the first match.
