KATHMANDU, Sept 7: Nepal U-19 cricket team has suffered a five-wicket loss against host team Sri Lanka under D/L method during the opening encounter of ACC U-19 Asia Cup held at R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo on Friday. 

Sri Lanka completed the chase of 159 runs set by Nepal in 33.4 overs to register a comfortable win.
Wicket-keeper batsman Kameel Mishara registered a match-winning half-century scoring 55 runs opening the batting for the winning team. Mishara smashed three boundaries and two sixes during his 62-ball stay. 

Middle-order batsman Ahan Wickramasinghe chipped with a brisk 30 runs off 36 balls which included two boundaries to help Sri Lanka collect two points in the opening fixture. Both shared a partnership of 60 runs off 62 deliveries for the third wicket that put the home team on the driver’s seat. 

Similarly, skipper Nipun Dhananjaya Perera contributed 18 runs off 31 deliveries during the chase. Avishka Tharindu stayed unbeaten on 25 runs off 44 deliveries to secure the win. Both batsmen shared a partnership of 40 runs off 67 deliveries.

Pace bowler Rashid Khan was the most successful bowler for the visiting side picking up two wickets in his 6.4 overs in the match conceding 21 runs off it. He dismissed both the Sri Lankan openers including Mishara. Likewise, Pawan Sarraf, Kamal Singh Airee and Sagar Dhakal shared a wicket each. 

Sarraf was the most economical bowler of the day conceding 28 runs in 9 overs whereas Airee and Dhakal conceded more than six runs per over.

Earlier, Nepal won the toss and elected to bat first in the delayed start due to wet conditions. The match was reduced to 42 overs per side match. Opening batsman Rit Gautam continued his good form with the bat notching up his first milestone against the Test nation team. He scored patient 54 runs off 86 deliveries which included four boundaries. 

Gautam steadied the Nepali batting innings after sustaining double blow within 7 overs. Nepal was reduced to 24 runs for the loss of two- Sarraf for four and Aasif Sheikh for seven runs- in the seventh over. Gautam then shared a partnership of 89 runs with the skipper Rohit Paudel for the third wicket. Paudel labored to score 47 runs off 80 deliveries. Rashid’s unbeaten 15 and Hari Bahadur Chauhan’s 12 runs were the other double digit scores of the innings in a rather forgettable day of Nepali batting.

Dilshan Madushanka and Navod Dinusari registered three-wicket-haul each during the dominant display of Sri Lankan bowling in the helpful conditions of R Premadas. Rohan Sanjaya Silva and Ashian Daniel contributed a wicket each limiting Nepal to 159 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 42 overs.

Nepal will face Bangladesh on Sunday whereas Sri Lanka will take on the UAE during the second round of Group B fixtures.

 
• Sri_Lanka
 
• Nepal
 
• rain-hit_match
 
• U-19_cricket_team