"We have completed all the preparations for the semifinal and we are mentally prepared for it," Tamata said, adding, "As in our previous matches in AIT, toss carries a great significance and we have prepared accordingly. The team that wins the toss can take advantage by electing to field as the pitch will be damp during morning."[break]
The match, however, is likely to begin after 11 am local time as the hosts have hinted at starting the match only after the pitch becomes dry.
"As we already knew that we were scheduled to play the semifinal in this ground, we elected to bat first against Thailand in our last group match to find out the ground condition to test ourselves if the toss did not favor us," Tamata said.
AIT is a familiar ground to Nepal. Nepal had played all four group matches, except against Oman, in this very ground. Captain Prithu Baskota has won all the tosses in the ground.
Nepal had secured a place in the last four as the winners of group B while Qatar had progressed as the runners-up of group A. Qatar had won their first three group stage matches but lost to Bahrain in the fourth. They had defeated defending champions Hong Kong by 11 runs in the group stage en route to the semifinals.
Qatar´s batsman Tamoor Sajjad, who was the man-of-the-match in all three of Qatar´s victories, could be problematic for Nepal. Sajjad has scored 95 runs against Malaysia, unbeaten 69 against Singapore and 49 against Hong Kong, and has also claimed 10 wickets so far. He took three wickets against Bahrain but could score only 10 runs and Qatar lost the match.
Nepal are facing Qatar for the first time in the ACC U-19 tournament. Though the two teams were pitted in the same group in 2003 the match could not start as it was washed out due to rain.
However, Nepal had played against Qatar in their first match of the ACC U-17 held in Kathmandu in 2008. On the occasion, Nepal had lifted the title. Sajjad and six other players from the current squad had played against Nepal in the 2008 tournament.
Sajjad was declared the man-of-the-match against Nepal and was also adjudged the man-of-the-series. He is most likely to get the man-of-the-series award, even if Nepal are favorites to win the match.
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