KATHMANDU, Nov 29: The Nepali Men’s U-19 team lost to Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the first match of ACC Men's Under-19 Asia Cup held at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the UAE on Friday.
Nepal won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat first as Sri Lanka scored 233 runs in the stipulated 50 overs. In reply, Nepal, who were chasing 234 runs for victory, lost all their wickets after scoring 178 runs in 46.2 overs and lost the match by 55 runs.
Opener Mayan Yadav scored the highest 62 runs for Nepal. He scored 62 runs in 91 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes. The other opener Akash Tripathi scored 19 runs in 33 balls, while Uttam Thapa scored 17, Arjun Kumal and Naren Bhatt added 12 runs each and Naren Saud added 16 runs.
Nepal vs Sri Lanka (Live video)
Praveen Manisha took the highest wicket for Sri Lanka with 3 wickets. Similarly, Bihas Thewamika and Kugadas Mathulan took 2 wickets each.
Earlier, Sri Lanka's Sharujan Shanmuganathan scored 62 and Lakwin Abesinghe scored 50 runs. For Nepal, Santosh Yadav took 4 wickets giving away 45 runs in 10 overs. Similarly, Yubraj Khatri took 2 and Hemant Dhami and Naren Saud took 1 wicket each.
Nepal will face Bangladesh in the second match on Sunday. They will play Afghanistan in the third and final match of the group stage next Tuesday.
Eight countries from Asia are competing in the event organized by the ACC where five Asian Test nations automatically qualified for the competition.
Nepal, UAE and Japan qualified by finishing in the top 3 of the ACC U-19 Premier Cup held in Malaysia last year where Nepal defeated the UAE in the finals.
The 8 participating teams in the competition have been divided into 2 groups. Group B consists of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in addition to Nepal. Group A consists of India, Pakistan, Japan and the UAE. The top two teams from the group will qualify for the semi-finals. The final will be held on December 8.
