Nepal won its fourth match in a row as Avinash Karn destroyed Malaysian batting line up getting six wickets in the final Group B match of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia. With that win Nepal go into the semi final as the winner of Group B. Nepal will face the winner of the match between Saudi Arabia and UAE, in the semi final of the tournament.
Malaysia and Nepal both had already qualified for the semis. With the loss Malaysia go into the semi final as runner up and shall face Afghanistan U19.
Losing the toss and invited to field first Nepal obliged in an emphatic manner getting 5 of the Malayasian batsmen with just 9 runs on board. Karn took four of those five wickets. Karn started the rain of wickets getting rid of opener Vinay Singh for 4 runs with 6 runs on board in the first ball of second over. Karn got Ismail for a duck exactly 2 overs and one runs later. Karki then joined in the bash dismissing Opner Safiq Ali for 1. Karn got two more wickets in first and the third ball of his third over getting the Malyasian captain Ramli and Nadesh for 0 and 1 respectively. The score then 9 for 5 in 6.3 overs.
The sixth wicket added 10 runs, the third highest partnership of the innings. Bhuwan Karki eventually broke through it dismissing Kogilan Muthu for 5. Amiruddin Azar and Shatish then added 17 run for the 7th wicket. Nepal got the 7th wicket in form of Amiruddin Azar as player of the match against Kuwait Shushant Bhari got rid of Amiruddin Azar stumped for 15. Malayasia then 36/7 in 13.2 overs.
Karn then got two wickets in back to back deliveries(but different overs) getting Sathish and V Muthu for 5 and 0 in the last ball of 15th and first ball of 16th over. Karn’s Hattrick ball was fended off by number 11 Pavandeep.
Pavandeep and Divendran then added 25 runs for the last wicket, the highest of Malaysian innings to get them to 69. Yagayaman Kumal got the last wicket for Nepal.
Nepal completed the 70 run chase in 25th over losing three wickets. The openers fell cheaply Amit(10) and Nischal(7) both departed early leaving Nepal 20/2 in 8.3 overs. Harishankar and Bibhatsu Thapa then added 42 runs for the third wicket to set up easy win for Nepal. Bibhatsu scored 17 runs of 44 balls with 3 boundaries. He eventually fell at 62 runs when Nepal needed just 8 more to win caught by Koligan Muthu of Pawandeep Singh. Nirmal Thapa then joined Harishankar in the middle and the duo knocked the remaining runs as Nepal got to the target in 20.4 overs.
Harishankar top scored for Nepal remaining not out with a steady 28 of 42 balls.
Nirmal Thapa had scored three run from the fourth ball of 25th over to take Nepal from 67/3 to 70 runs. Those were his only runs.
Avinash Karn was adjudged the player of the match for Nepal for his hostile bowling. This was his third player of the match in a row. In the four matches played Karn has taken 19 wickets, with 2 five wicket hauls and a Hattrick. He took 4 wickets against Qatar, 8 against Bahrain yesterday and 6 today- all of those performances enough to get him player of the match.
