Kathmandu- Sunil Dhamala took five wickets and Aarif Sheikh took another three as Nepal U19 thrashed Papua New Guinea PNG U19 by nine wicket with 245 balls remaining in the first match of the ICC U19 World Cup Qualifiers at Kinrara Oval, Mallaysia on Thursday.
Nepal could not have dreamt of a better start to the tournament. PNG had no answers to top quality spin of Nepal. Sunil Dhamala starred with the ball finishing with figures of 10-1-15-5. Medium Pacer Aarif bagged 3 wickets while Sushil Kandel got one.
Opening the innings with the ball, Aarif and Sunil put PNG on the backfoot with quality bowling. By the end of 10 overs, PNG were already six wickets down. The run rate always remained around 1 run per over. By the end of 19 overs PNG were 23 for 9. Number 11 Guba added 25 runs for the last wicket with Toua who remained no out on 11 and took the score to 48 runs. 11 Guba top scored for PNG with 13 runs which included 2 sixes. . The last wicket partnership took PNG to 48 runs.
Nepal chased the target with ease in just 9.1 overs. Sunil Dhamala opening the batting was unbeaten on 24 runs of 34 balls. while Yogendra Karki contributed 16 runs. With this win, Nepal have given a huge boost to their run rate and stand in the first position on the table.
Nepal U19 takes Uganda U19 in the second match tomorrow. In their first match Uganda (167/10) lost to USA by 6 wickets.
