Nepal lost the opening match of ACC U-19 Asia Cup 2012 against Pakistan by 8 wickets.
Poor batting display from Nepali team against one of the Asian giant brought the opening match of ACC U19 Asia Cup 2012 to a sad encounter.
Nepal were invited to bat first at Bayuemas Oval, Kuala Lumpur today. But, Pakistan restricted them to a formidable 156 runs in 46.1 overs. Poor start from the beginning, Opener Subash Khakurel (6) went cheaply in 4.3 overs, Pradip Airee tried everything scoring 3 glorious fours but couldn’t hold the inning and was caught off Azizullah’s bowling for 18 runs.
Naresh Budhayair top scored with 34 off 85 balls while Captain Prithu Baskota scored 28 runs with 3 boundaries. Except these two batsmen, Rajesh Pulami Magar managed run a ball 23 in the Nepal’s inning.
Pakistani bowlers were in shape and were impressive today. All their 5 bowlers managed to take wickets. Azizullah and Mohammad Nawaz took 2 wickets each, while Zia-ul-Haq, Ehsan Adil & Usman Qadir managed a wicket each.
Meanwhile, Pakistan chased the target of 157 runs without any hiccups in 37.3 overs. The bowling of Nepali team didnt go as it was expected. Strategic compilation of both pacers and spinners also couldn’t make Nepali bowling innings special.
Avinash Karna and Sagar Pun initially created some hope for Nepal but this hope couldnot last long due to opening partnership of 98 runs between Sami Aslam and the opposition’s skipper Babar Azam. Aslam played a sensible inning off 82 runs from 115 balls (12×4) and remained till the end of the match. While Babar contributed 48 runs. Imam Ul Haq and Umar Whaedd both managed 8 and 10 runs respectively.
The spinners were much effective against the Pakistanis. Rahul V.K and Sagar Pun managed one wicket each. Sami Aslam was adjudged with the Man of the Match award for his batting performance.
