KATHMANDU, March 23: Nepal U19 national cricket team has succumbed to 72-run defeat against the Andhra Pradesh U-19 state cricket team in the second practice match of the preparation tour held in Andhra Cricket Association’s cricket ground on Friday.
Nepal had rested regular players Rohit Kumar Paudel, Sundeep Jora, Sagar Dhakal and Kamal Singh Airee in the match on Friday. Nepal had defeated Andhra in the first of the series of four practice matches held at same venue on Wednesday. The third match will be played on Sunday.
Andhra’s Hemantha Reddy picked up a four-wicket-haul to bundle out Nepal for 217 runs in 45.2 overs. Similarly, T Vijay picked up a brace supported by P Tejaswi, Deepu Bharghav, Durga Kumar and Harshavradan’s a wicket each. Nepal’s Rashid Khan and opening batsman Pawan Sarraf scored 35 runs each. Khan smashed two fours and two sixes during his 26 ball stay whereas Sarraf scored five boundaries during his 54 ball stay.
Airee, Paudel help Nepal edge past Andhra Pradesh
Likewise, all-rounder Kushal Malla scored run-a-ball 30 runs which included two fours and two sixes. Skipper Aasif Sheikh scored 25 runs in 20 deliveries which included one four and two sixes before falling to Bharghav. Opening batsmen Rit Gautam, Avishek Basnet and Lokesh Bam were other double digit scorers of the innings scoring 21, 23 and 16 runs respectively.
Batsmen Bhim Sarki and Hari Bahadur Chauhan got out for five runs each. Both were dismissed by Andhra bowler of the day Reddy.
Earlier, Andhra batsmen P Tapaswi registered a century scoring 116 runs from 83 deliveries. The right-handed batsman smashed six fours and eight sixes which laid the foundation of the team’s win. Tapaswi was supported by Harsvardan’s 33 runs from 37 deliveries at top of the innings. Nake S Aparanji scored 24 runs whereas Reddy and K Venkatesh collected 23 runs each to help Andhra put up a winning total.
Nepali spinners Sher Malla and Surya Tamang failed to make impact in the match conceding 39 and 80 runs in six and 10 overs respectively. However, Tamang picked three wickets, highest by a Nepali bowler in the match, but failed to stop Andhra from scoring 289 runs before getting all-out in 49.3 overs. Left-arm fast bowler Pratish GC, Sher and Kushal shred a wicket each.
The Nepali team is in Andhra Pradesh for these four practices matches that are taken as preparation 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.
