Nepal’s ICC U-19 World Cup Division 1 Qualifier for Asia Region ended with another big defeat at the hands of Afghanistan who completed the formality of securing a berth for the 2018 U-19 World Cup in New Zealand with a 96-run victory in Singapore on Tuesday.
Nepal, who unrealistically needed a huge-margin victory to qualify for the World Cup, managed to bundle out Afghanistan to 195 runs in 46.5 overs despite a century from Ibrahim Zadran. Nepal’s batting failure was summed up in the final round robin league game as the team was bundled out for just 99 runs in 40.3 overs. It was the highest team total for Nepal in the tournament that sent only the table-toppers to the World Cup.
Afghanistan finished unbeaten with 12 points from five games with Nepal second behind them with eight points. Nepal had also lost their first match against Afghanistan by 141 runs after they were bundled out for just 49 runs. Nepal coach Binod Das said a deserving team qualified for the World Cup.
“It feels really bad that our hard work wasn’t enough. A deserving team qualified for the World Cup. Our batting let us down throughout the tournament because we struggled to find our rhythm. We managed to win against other two teams but against Afghanistan, we had to be at our best,” said Das.
In a repeat of their first round robin league game, Nepal were quickly put to back foot after they were reduced to 34-5 in 16.2 overs after Mujeeb Zadran and Yousuf Zazai shared four wickets between them. Dipendra Singh Airee pushed the team towards a face-saving total, sharing 51 runs for the sixth wicket with Pawan Sarraf (10).
Airee, the only Nepali batsman to get a half century in the tournament, made 48 from 81 balls with seven fours and a six. His departure in the 35th over was virtually the end of Nepal innings. Prakash KC (10) was the only other batsman to score in double digits. Zazai picked up 4-11 from 5.3 overs and Mujeeb had the figures of 3-26 from 10.
Afghanistan innings was built around Ibrahim’s century who put on modest partnerships, the biggest being a 74-run stand for the fifth wicket with Ikram Faizi (24). His departure in 41st over to Airee was the end of their innings. With Ibrahmi’s wicket, Afghanistan added just 16 runs for wickets. Ibrahim made 101 off 114 balls with seven boundaries and five sixes.
Opener Naveed Obaid (22) was the other Afghanistan batsman to put a notable runs on the board. For Nepal, Sahab Alam picked up 4-30 from 8.5 overs, while Airee put in an allround performance, returning with the figures of 3-41 from 10 overs. Sahab ended up becoming tournament’s four highest leading wicket taker with 12 scalps to his name.
Lamichhane the top wicket-taker
Nepal skipper Sandeep Lamichhane with the man-of-the-series award after finishing the Qualifiers in second. Photos courtesy: Raman shiwakoti
KATHMANDU: The biggest positive for Nepal in their ICC U-19 World Cup Division 1 Qualifier for Asia Region was skipper Sandeep Lamichhane walking away with the man-of-the-series award on Tuesday. Nepal missed out on their 2018 U-19 World Cup spot following a 96-run defeat to Afghanistan. Lami-chhane capped a memorable outing, picking up 24 wickets to finish as tournament’s leading wicket-taker. Afghanistan off spinner Mujeeb Zadran was behind him with 24 wickets. The Nepali leg spinner also became Nepal’s highest wicket-taker in a single international series at any level.
No comments:
Post a Comment