Kathmandu – Nepal U19 thrashed the UAE U19 by 94 runs in the final match of the ACC U19 Premier League to register their fourth win of the ACC U19 Premier League at Tack-Tec Ground, Kuwait City today.
This win helped Nepal to progress for the ICC U-19 World Cup Global Qualifiers. Nepal had to settle for a 2nd place in the ACC U-19 Premier League 2014 after it lost to Afghanistan U-19 by five wickets in the fourth match on Friday.
UAE won the toss and invited Nepal to bat first. Nepal lost their opener Sunil Dhamala in the first ball of the innings. But half centuries from Aarif Sheikh 60(86) and Shankar Rana 48(86) steadied the inning. The duo had a 83 runs partnership for the third wicket to held the innings. Similarly, Prem Tamang scored a brisk 52 off 48 balls with 4 fours. He was supported by Yogendra Singh Karki 35(28) towards the end of innings to pile up 250 runs in their 50 overs.
Oswin Crasta managed to take three wickets (3/30), Yodhin Punja and Aaron Kattampally shared two wickets each.
The UAE U19 innings folded out for 156 runs in 44.3 overs despite half centuries from Karthik Shekhar 52(95) and Waruna Parera 57(73). Divyendu Shekhar (15) & Riyan Mohammed (11) were the other top scorer during the chase.
Dipendra Singh Airee grabbed three wickets (3/19) along with Irshad Ahmed who managed to take two vital wickets. Saurav Khanal, Aarif Sheikh, Sushil Kandel, Sunil Dhamala shared wicket apiece.
Aarif Shiekh was adjudged Man of the match. Nepal ended the tournament with 4 wins and 1 loss. They earned 8 points with +2.275 Net Run Rate. Despite this result, it didn’t help Nepal to go through ICC U19 World Cup as Afghanistan thrashed Kuwait U19 by 206 runs to top the table and qualify for the world cup. This win helped Afghanistan won the ACC U19 title for third time.
