Nepal entered the final of ACC U-19 Elite Cup defeating hosts Malaysia by five wickets on Monday at the Bayumas Oval Ground, Kuala Lumpur.
Nepal meets Afghanistan for Wednesday’s final at the Kinrara Ground. This will be Nepal’s fifth final of the tournament since 1999. Although it lost the 1999 final to Bangladesh, it had won all three titles afterwards – always defeating Malaysia.
On Monday, Nepal bowled out Malaysia for 54 runs in 30.5 overs – thanks to five-wicket haul by captain Paras Khadka and chased the target in 20.2 overs losing five wickets. This was Nepal’s sixth straight victory over Malaysia since 1997 at this level.
On the cloudy Monday morning, captain Paras Khadka became the hero of Nepal’s victory wrecking the Malaysian batting as he claimed five wickets for 21 runs in 10 overs. He won the toss and elected to field first on the damp bowler-friendly condition.
Malaysian were never comfortable against Nepali pace attack as Amrit Bhattarai and Chandra Saud also claimed one each and spinner Raj Shrestha ended the innings at 54 with two wickets. Aminuddin Ramly was the only batsman to score double figure – 18.
Nepal’s chase began well with Mahesh Chhetri getting the fourth opening partner in as many games, but Sashi Keshari too could not do much as he was out for 5 in the first ball of ninth over. Mahesh (13) and Akash Gupta (12) too didn’t stay long.
A batting collapse saw Nepal losing four wickets for five runs to go down to 37/5 from 32/1 with Gyanendra Malla (4) and Paras (first ball duck) returning pavilion. Antim Thapa (13 not out) and Sagar Khadka (3 not out) however denied further damage brining victory for Nepal.
“I am disappointed with batting because we should have won by 9 or 10 wickets,” coach Roy Dias commented. “However, I am glad that we are entering the final.”
“Nepal should ready themselves for the World Cup,” Malaysian coach Mohd Shahidul Alam said. “This time too we were unable to do anything against Nepal.” In the other semifinal played at Kinrara, Afghanistan beat United Arab Emirates by 40 runs.
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