Kathmandu- Nepal U19 faces the United States U19 in the third match of the ICC U19 World Cup Qualifiers 2015 tomorrow (October 19) at Kinrara Oval, Kuala Lumpur. The match starts at 7:15 NST.
Big Picture-
Nepal’s progress in this tournament has been enthralling so far. With two emphatic wins over Papua New Guinea and Uganda, Nepal stand at the top of the table boasting a net run rate of +3.74. Win against the USA will secure Nepal’s berth in the final, with still one match remaining.
Nepal have very little things to worry about when they go into tomorrow’s match. Nepal’s bowling has been extraordinary with each bowler among wickets.Medium pacer Dipesh Shrestha fired in the last match picking three crucial wickets while spinner did their job as always. And Nepal’s batting has been above par with Skipper Raju Rijal leading from the front, scoring a fine century. His century was the first by a wicket-keeper batsman and captain at U-19 level for Nepal.
Meanwhile, the USA’s team flunked against Ireland, after recording thumping win over Uganda in their first match. Their win against Uganda came in the 41st over chasing 167 runs but the team folded for just 100 runs against Ireland. They need to come back strong if they are to beat favorites Nepal tomorrow. A loss tomorrow will the end of World Cup roads for USA U19.
Qualification-
The USA U19 qualified for ICC U19 World Cup Qualifier finishing second in the Americas Under-19 Championship. It was a three team event – USA, Canada and Bermuda participated. Canada won the tournament winning all four of its matches and qualified for the U19 World Cup. USA only bettered Bermuda on NRR to qualify for this event.
USA go with three 200 plus scores in the qualifiers and two batsman- Kushal Ganji and Alex Shoff scoring centuries- shows batting is certainly their strength. USA were particularity competitive against the champions Canada. USA scored 240 runs chasing 241 in the first match and 252 chasing 289 in the second
Nepal U19 vs USA U19: Head to Head
Familiar foes at senior level the youth teams of Nepal and USA have only met once previously – that too being in ICC U19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland, 2011 Nepal had defeated USA by 99 run then. .
Players to watch out-
Kushal Ganji (USA)- Middle order batsman, Kushal Ganji scored 141 runs in the Americas U19 Championship at an average above 35, including a century against the champions Canada. Having scored 27 and 30 runs in the qualifiers so far, one can expect him to score some runs tomorrow as well.
Raju Rijal (Nepal)- Raju Rijal became the first wicket keeper batsman and captain to score a century for U19 team at international level after blasting a century against Uganda in the last match. He is also the third batsman for Nepal to score century in international matches. His performance in the previous match has already sparked high hopes among the fans and is being looked at as future national team skipper. The Dhangadhi batsman who bats at No. 4 will have another chance to score big runs tomorrow.
