Nepal entered into the semi final of the ACC Trophy Elite with a convincing 125 runs victory over Hong Kong at ICC Global Cricket Academy, Dubai on Tuesday and will face Malaysia in the semi final.
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Wining the toss, Nepal opted to bat first and scored a respectable total of 225 runs loosing 7 wickets in 50 overs and bowled out Hong Kong for just 100 runs in 37.0 overs.
Amrit Bhattarai and Basanta Regmi shared three wickets each as Nepal registered an easy win in a must win match. Paras Khadka took two wickets while Shakti Gauchan had one in his account.
Babar Hayat top scored for Hong Kong with 27 off 50 balls, while Tanvir Azfal contributed 22 runs. Waqas Barkat and skipper Jamie Atkinson added 18 and 11 runs respectively while no other batsman could score a double digit figure.
Earlier, with the 61 runs from Paras Khadka, Nepal recovered from early wickets and managed to put a respectable score. Khadka faced 54 balls and hit six fours and two sixes.
Nepal had a forgetful start as they lost Subash Khakurel in the second ball of the innings. Gyanendra Malla 28 then shared a partnership of 70 runs with Anil Mandal before being bowled by Nizakat Khan in the 21st over. Mandal later was bowled by KC shah for 37 runs in 22nd over.
Sharad Vesawkar then joined Paras Khadka in the crease but he had to depart with just 14 runs in his name in the 30th over. Khadka shared a 32 runs partnership for fourth wicket with Basanta Regmi. Regmi was later caught for 31 runs off 41 balls(3 fours).
Nepal then lost Khadka in 43rd over at the score of 179. Prithu Baskota was then bowled for 12 runs in second ball of the 49th over leaving Nepal at 209/7. Baskota shared 30 runs with Pradeep Airee.
Airee then fired two fours and a six and remained unbeaten at 25 runs with the end of the innings.
Tanwir Afzal, Nizakat Khan, KC Shah claimed two wickets each while Irfan Ahmed took one for Hong Kong.
Paras Khadka was adjudged the man of the match.
With the win, Nepal finished as the group winner and will face Malaysia in the semi final on Wednesday while Group A winner Afghanistan will take on Group B runner up U.A.E in another semi final. Nepal and U.A.E. both had equal six points while Nepal was declared the group winner on head to head basis as Nepal had defeated U.A.E. by 4 wickets in their first match.
