NEPAL to face UAE in Semifinal friday

NEPAL, booked its place in semifinal after yesterday’s match between Qatar and Kuwait, will face UAE  in 2nd Semifinal friday.

Today, Nepal won the match against Kuwait by 7 wickets. After winning the toss Kuwait chose to bat first which was made worng decision by Nepalese Bowlers, picking 5 wickets early. Then they got some resistance being aggressive too against quite good bowling attack. After putting a good partnership then again they lost 4 wickets in quick succession. then come good last wicket partnership to end with 103 in 38.1 overs where Nepalese Bowler Mahboob and Shakti got 3 wickets each.

After getting low target to chase, it is assumed that NEPAL might win with all 10 wickets in hand but that does not happened. The top order fails again as tournament goes to semifinal stage, it lost 3 wickets quickly and gave a chance to pressurise themselves. Then, Nepal started to play very causously and slow which allowed them to get the target without loosing further any wickets. Nepal wins by 7 wickets in hand in 29 overs and finished leader in the group.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan has won their match against bahrain and over came against UAE to top the group. Afghanistan and UAE has the identical points with 3 win and 1 loss each but Afghanistan has got better net run rate to go ahead as group winner. So, it is clear that UAE is facing NEPAL and Afghanistan is facing Hongkong in semifinals. This is the repeatation of last ACC TROPHY 2006 where UAE beat Nepal and Hongkong beat Afghanistan to play in final.

Here is the scorecard:

Nepal takes on Kuwait today

Pramod Pokhrel, The Himalayan Times, July 29:

Nepal are planning to go into the last league match of the ACC Trophy Elite Cup against Kuwait here at the Selangor Turf Club on Wednesday with a different set up.

Nepal’s semi-final berth was confirmed today after Qatar defeated Kuwait and coach Roy Luke Dias has decided to include Dipendra Chaudhary and Sanjam Regmi in the team.

Sanjam will replace Basanta Regmi, who got injured while fielding against Singapore on Monday. “Basanta has recovered and can play tomorrow, but I will go for Sanjam tomorrow,,” said Dias, who also hinted at dropping one of the openers for the match.

The opening pair of Paresh Lohani and Kanishka Chaugain has not been able to build the foundation so far. Paresh, who scored 42 against Hong Kong in the first match, failed to score in double figures in next two matches, while Chaugain – who returned to the national team after a two-year gap – has not been able to cross 20.

Dias has planned to include Chaudhary in place of Lohani or Chaugain, but has not decided yet about the combination. Chaugain will open along with wicketkeeper Mahesh Chhetri if Paresh gets dropped and Chaudhary will bat in the middle order.

“Though we are in semi-finals, we should not take Kuwait lightly. Each match is as important as final in cricket and we have to progress with high morale,” said Dias.

Nepal have won all the three previous matches against Kuwait in 2002, 2005 and 2006. “We have beaten them on all occasions but we have to be careful as Kuwait have a number of good expats in their team,” said assistant coach Samsung Jung Thapa.

PROBABLES: Binod Das (captain), Paras Khadka, Mehboob Alam, Raj Kumar Pradhan, Dipendra Chaudhary, Sanjam regmi, Kanishka Chaugain, Mahesh Chhetri, Sharad Vesawkar, Shakti Gauchan and Gyanendra Malla.

NEPAL books a place in Semi Final

After today’s match between Qatar and Kuwait, which Qatar won by 24 runs, it comforms a place in Semi Final for NEPAL.

Now, with 3 wins out of 3 matches played by NEPAL, got 6 points, Hongkong has 4 points out of 3 matches,  Singapore and Kuwait got equally 2 points from their 3 matches and Qatar has 2 points from all their matches they got. One match left for other 4 teams, where they can get maximum 2 points more so except Hongkong, no other team will get to us.

Now, it is cleared that NEPAL in the semifinal, now the only question remain as whom to play against in there. Would it be Afghanistan or UAE? If it be Afghanistan then it will be sweeter time to get revenge of Jersey’s chokes. Now, our batting has improved alot from there and lot of confident on it. It won’t be that hard to chase 142 or even 200 runs on the board. If batted first then it will be horrobly wrong for Afghani this time, Nepal won’t be any kind to you. Pack your bags, the time has come to go back home.

For UAE, you are not unbeatable anymore… and now NEPAL is not that NEPAL anymore which you beat comfortably. This is the right time for us to lift the title, no one can challenge us anymore.

Nepal beat Singapore comfortably

Pramod Pokhrel, The Himalayan Times, July 28:

Nepal defeated Singapore by six wickets and almost entered the semi-finals of the ACC Trophy Elite Cup here today. With the win Nepal accumulated six points from three matches to stay atop Group B, while Hong Kong have four points. Singapore and Kuwait have two points each. The top teams from both the groups will qualify for the semi-finals.

Batting first after winning the toss at the Kinara Oval, Singapore struggled to 155-9 in 50 overs and Nepal overcame the target losing four wickets in 40.5 overs, thanks to the patience knocks from the vice captain Paras Khadka and Shakti Gauchan.

Chasing the victory target of 156 runs, Nepal lost three quick wickets and came under pressure at 39-3. Opener Paresh Lohani departed for just three runs, while other opener Kanishka Chaugain (16) and Sharad Vesawkar (9) also fell cheaply.

Both the openers were bowled by Pramod Raja. Lohani played on to his stumps while trying to drive the ball, whereas Chaugain failed to read the line and was bowled after scoring 16 off 31 balls including a boundary. Vesawkar was bowled by Sayed Ali Muhammad.

Gyanendra Malla and Paras Khadka pulled the team out of trouble with the 56-runs stand for the fourth wicket, before Malla (17) went on for a big shot and got caught by S Sayed Ali Muhammad at the boundary line.

After that, Paras and Shakti Gauchan saw Nepal home with an unbroken stand of 62 runs. Paras hit eight fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 71 off 91 balls, while Shakti scored not out 30 off 46 balls that included four hits to fence. Paras, who has scored 156 runs in the tournament so far, was named the man of the match twice.

Pramod Raj took 2-28, while Sayed and M Nasir Madakia claimed one wicket each for Singapore.

Nepal coach Roy Luke Dias was happy with the win but was concerned with the opening pair’s failure in all the three matches. He also hinted at reshuffling the batting order in Wednesday’s last league match against Kuwait. Dias also praised Alam for his aggressive bowling and Paras and Shakti for their patience batting. Skipper Binod Das also praised the middle order batsmen for their effort. “The middle order has been delivering despite the failure of the openers,” he said.

Earlier, seamer Mehboob Alam wrecked the Singapore top order with swing bowling. He bowled out the top three batsmen cheaply as Singapore batsmen struggled to read his deliveries. Alam dismissed opener G Meyer with the second ball of the innings for a duck. He added another scalp when he bowled Sayed Muhammad for a 14-ball duck. Alam then dismissed C Suryawanshi, who scored 32 off 37 balls including three fours and two sixes.

After losing the first three wickets for 56 runs, Singapore batsmen failed to build partnerships and gave away the wickets on regular intervals. Skipper C Kumarage fought a lonely battle could not get support from others. The No 4 batsman top-scored with 40 off 83 balls, including three fours and a six before being the seventh man out. M Shoib (12) and I Madakia (13) shared an unbroken stand of 25 runs, the second best of the innings, for the 10th wicket.

While Alam had a fiery spell of 10-3-25-3, Gauchan took 2-17 off 10 overs. Paras, Raj Kumar Pradhan and Basanta Regmi claimed one wicket each.

SCORECARD: NEPAL Vs. Singapore– won by 6 wickets

MATCH: Nepal v Singapore	DATE: 28th July 2008
VENUE: Kinrara Oval	TOSS: Singapore – Chose to bat
CAPTAINS: Binod Das / Chaminda Ruwan
WICKETKEEPERS: Mahesh Chettri / Vivek Vedagiri
UMPIRES: Dushantha Ekanayake (Sri Lanka) / Tanvir Ahme (Bangladesh)	MATCH REFEREE: Rajendra Jadeja (India)
SCORERS: Hamidah Ramlan/ Puteh Norsila
RESULT: NEPAL WON BY 6 WICKETS

SINGAPORE INNINGS
Batsman	How Out	Bowler	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	SR
Glenn Meyer	Bowled	Mahboob Alam	0	2	0	0	0
Chetan Suryawanshi	Bowled	Mahboob Alam	32	37	3	2	86.48
Muhammad Ali	Bowled	Mahboob Alam	0	14	0	0	0
Chaminda Ruwan	st wk Mahesh Chettri	Shakti Gauchan	40	83	3	1	48.19
Munish Arora	Bowled	Paras Khadka	4	19	0	0	21.05
Christopher Janik	Run Out		8	29	1	0	27.58
Narender Reddy	st wk Mahesh Chettri	Shakti Gauchan	4	11	1	0	36.36
Pramodh Raja	Caught & Bowled	Basant Regmi	10	42	0	0	23.8
Vivek Vedagiri	ct wk Mahesh Chettri	Raj Kumar Pradhan	11	24	0	0	45.83
Shoib Razak	Not out		12	22	1	0	54.54
Rizwan Madakia	Not out		13	17	1	0	76.47
	EXTRAS:		b: 1	lb: 9	nb: 0	w: 11	p:
TOTAL: 155	WKTS: 9	OVERS: 50

 

ACC trophy preview: Nepal eye early semi-final berth

Pramod Pokhrel, The Himalayan Times, July 27:Nepal hope to book an early semi-final berth by beating Singapore in their third match of the ACC Trophy Elite Cup on Monday.

Nepal are on top of their group with two wins in as many matches and a win at the Kinrara Oval on Monday would ensure a spot in the last four. Though Nepal have not played against Singapore in the one-day form of the game, the Nepali camp is confident of registering a win. Nepal have beaten Singapore in the three-day matches. Nepal’s run in the tournament has been impressive so far. They defeated Hong Kong by 44 runs on Friday and registered a seven-wicket victory against Qatar on Friday. Singapore have won one and lost one match so far.

Nepal’s coach Roy Luke Dias said he was not going to take Singapore lightly. “We have won both the previous matches, but we are not taking any team lightly,” he said. “Taking Singapore lightly is foolish.”

Asked about the team combination, Dias said he would finalise the team only after inspecting the pitch and the conditions. “We need to play cautiously as we are favourites to win the tournament and we also have a balanced side to lift the trophy,” said Dias.

Skipper Binod Das was also hopeful of the win and said the team needed to perform well in all the departments.

Nepal’s impressive run continues

Pramod Pokhrel, THE HIMALAYAN TIMES, Kuala Lumpur, July 26:

Sharad Vesawkar and Gyanendra Malla scored unbeaten half century each as Nepal defeated Qatar in the ACC Trophy Elite Cup here at the Royal Military College today.

The win is Nepal’s second in as many matches which put them in a strong position to enter the semi-finals.
Nepal bowled Qatar out for 171 runs in 47.2 overs, with Shakti Gauchan and Basanta Regmi taking three wickets each. Nepal then overcame the target losing three wickets in 37.3 overs.

Nepal skipper Binod Das made the first breakthrough in the 15th over when Paresh Lohani caught Mohamad Jehangir (13) at the slips after the Qatari openers had put on 46 runs on the board. Faisal Noor (7) departed soon when he became Das’ second victim in the 17th over. Opener Omer Taj missed half century by two runs. Taj hit five fours and two sixes in his 77-ball knock.

Rusharat Ali fought a lonely battle but did not get help from other batsmen. Ali remained unbeaten on 40 off 54 balls that included two sixes. Shakti Gauchan, who was later named the man of the match, was the pick of the Nepali bowlers with 3-25 and was ably supported by Regmi (3-30) and Das (2-24). Sharad Vesawkar and Amrit Bhattarai took one wicket each.

In reply, Nepal had a disastrous start when opener Paresh Lohani hit a four and got out in the fifth ball of the innings. Kanishka Chaugain and Sharad Vesawkar added 32 runs for the second wicket before Chaugain lost his ground in the 10th over. Chaugain hit two fours in his 33-ball 20.

Nepal came under pressure after vice captain Paras Khadka (3) was dismissed at the team score of 46, but Vesawkar and Gyanendra Malla stood firm at the crease and batted till the end to score a comprehensive victory. The duo shared an unbroken stand of 126 runs.

Vesawkar played comparatively slow hitting just three fours in his 51 off 104 balls, while Malla scored 76 off 82 balls that included five fours and two sixes. Abbas Khan took two and Usman Malik claimed one wicket for Qatar.

Happy with the win, Nepal’s coach Roy Luke Dias said all the players needed to deliver. “Like Sharad, Basanta, Gyanendra and Shakti, other players also need to perform well,” he said. Team manager Pawan Agrawal praised the players’ patience. “The boys not only performed well but also did not lose concentration even under the pressure situation,” said the former national team captain Agrawal.

Scorecard: Today’s match against Qatar

MATCH: Nepal v Qatar	DATE: 26th July 2008
VENUE: Royal Military College	TOSS: Qatar – Chose to bat
CAPTAINS: Binod Das / Omer Taj
WICKETKEEPERS: Mahesh Chettri / Rusharat Ali
UMPIRES: Anisur Rahman / Suhas Phadkar	MATCH REFEREE: Samiur Rahman
SCORERS: Hamidah Ramlan / Puteh Norsila
RESULT: NEPAL WON BY 7 WICKETS

SCORECARD: NEPAL Vs Hongkong

our type Gary Sobers

MATCH: Hong Kong v Nepal	DATE: 25 August 2008
VENUE: Selangor Turf Club	TOSS: Nepal – Chose to bat
CAPTAINS: Tabarak Dar / Binod Kumar Das
WICKETKEEPERS: James Atkinson / Mahesh Chettri
UMPIRES: Sarika Prasad / Dushantha Ekanayaka	SCORERS: Bama Suppiah / Kamarul Rizal Sahrin
RESULT: NEPAL WON BY 44 RUNS

NEPAL INNINGS
Batsman	How Out	Bowler	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	SR
Paresh Lohani	LBW	Moner Ahmed	42	75	5	1	56
Kanishka Chaugai	Bowled	Irfan Ahmed	0	2	0	0	-
Sharad Veshawkar	St. James Atkinson	Nadeem Ahmed	48	73	9	0	65.75
Paras Khadka	Ct Ilyas Gul	Zain Abbas	81	72	8	3	112.5
Mahaboob Alam	Ct Butt Hussain	Moner Ahmed	20	28	2	0	71.42
Gyanendra Malla	Ct Nadeem Ahmed	Ilyas Gul	23	31	2	0	74.19
Basant Regmi	Ct Nadeem Ahmed	Ilyas Gul	9	10	4	0	90
Shakti Gauchan	N.O.		12	8	1	0	150
Mahesh Chettri	N.O.		2	2	0	0	100
Binod Das	DNB
Raj Kumar Pradhan	DNB
	EXTRAS:		b: 1	lb: 1	nb: 2	w: 4	p:
TOTAL: 245	WKTS: 7	OVERS: 50

Nepal faces Hong Kong today

BY UJJWAL ACHARYA, THE KATHMANDU POST, July 24

Nepal starts with a tough test in the ACC Trophy Elite 2008 facing Hong Kong in the opening match at the Selangor Turf Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday.

Hong Kong, which played against India and Pakistan in the recent Asia Cup, and Nepal, the semifinalist last time, will be looking for a good start in the event that has the grand prize of Asia Cup berth to the finalists.

“It is always good to start any tournament with a win, regardless of who your opponents are,” Hong Kong captain Tabarak Dar said in an interview. “But winning against a team as strong and consistent as Nepal would give us a huge confidence boost.”

Nepal and Hong Kong are in Group B of the event along with Kuwait, Qatar and Singapore. Four-time champion United Arab Emirates will face tough challenge from Afghanistan and host Malaysia in Group A that also consists Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

This is the tournament that Nepal, especially the senior players, can not afford to lose. After semifinal disappointment in the World Cricket League Division 5 in Jersey, some of the top players are under scrutiny and Nepal’s failure to reach the final in Malaysia is more than likely to invite big changes in the team.

“We all know how important this tournament is for us and our cricket,” Nepali captain Binod Das had said before leaving for the event. “And, I hope we will set the tune right from the first match.”

Statistically, Hong Kong has the upper hand having won three of the four meetings. It had defeated Nepal by identical margins of six wickets in 1996 and 1998 editions of ACC Trophy while it had a big 179-run win the semifinal of 2000 ACC Trophy. In 2006 event, Nepal defeated it comprehensively by 87 runs in the league stage.

The recent form of Hong Kong is not up to the scratch. Despite having an edge with experience of playing big guns in the Asia Cup, it lost to host Malaysia by 31 runs in a friendly match a week ago.

It is looking up to its spinners, who reduced Pakistan to 161/7 at one stage in Asia Cup, for the extra bite against the opponent. Nepal on the other hand will be looking forward to a much needed batting boost from Kanishka Chaugain, the former U-19 captain, who had returned from USA for the event. His confidence while opening Nepali innings will play vital role in the matches against tough opponents like Hong Kong.

Nepal in ACC Trophy

1996, Malaysia

•  Nepal’s first international appearance, won two of five matches in league but finished third

1998, Nepal

• Nepal’s first international tournament organization, lost two matches while two others were washed out in league round

2000, UAE

• Lost in semifinal to Hong Kong after finishing second in group behind UAE to reach semifinal, won two of the four matches

2002, Singapore

• Lost to UAE in the final – the second loss against it in the event while winning four other matches.

2004, Malaysia

• Shock defeat against Qatar in quarterfinal put Nepal into plate championship which it won by defeating Afghanistan, won four of five matches.

2006, Malaysia

Lost to UAE in semifinal and finished fourth losing to Afghanistan, won earlier four matches.