Nepal to take on HK

THE KATHMANDU POST, April 26

Nepal will try to maintain its winning streak, as they take on Hong Kong in the last group match of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup Cricket Tournament on Monday.

Nepal, on a crusade to defend the title for the fifth straight time, has already reached the semi-final of the tournament with three wins. Nepal will fight for a win against Hong Kong who hasn’t had an impressive tournament so far. Out of the three matches they played, Hong Kong has won only a single. They defeated Malaysia by six wickets on Sunday.

“We will play for nothing less than a win against Hong Kong which failed to meet the expectation in this tournament,” Nepal’s coach Roy Dias said, “My only worry is the top batting order hasn’t clicked yet.” Captain Gyanendra Malla scored back-to-back half centuries in Nepal’s last two wins, while left arm pace bowler Amrit Bhattaria’s ton saved the first match.

Dias is also worried about the bowling, as two of his main spin bowlers are not hundred percent fit. Sagar Khadka and Lal Bdr. Adhikari are both down with flue.

 in addition, Kantipur writes:

According to our coach Mr. Dais, Lal Bdr. could get rest for another batsman as Subash Pradhan will play in wicketkeeper role and Sunny Pun will be a specialist batsman. In the spin friendly pitch today, Nepal will badly miss a specialist spinner and Sagar will lead it with Gyanendra, Prithu, Anil.

Defending champions The Team NEPAL cruised to the semi-final

The Himalayan Times,  KATHMANDU,

Defending champions Nepal cruised to the semi-finals of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup with a game to spare after the three-wicket win over Singapore at the Hubara grounds in Kuwait on Saturday. The four-time defending champions overcame the 172-run target in the 45th over to register their third consecutive victory. In their previous matches, Nepal defeated Saudi Arabi and Malaysia.

Electing to bat first, Singapore were dismissed for 171 in the penultimate ball in the 50th over. Rezza Gaznavi top scored for Singapore with a patient 39 off 67 balls that included three fours and a six. Irfan Madakia also contributed 30 from 43 balls. Tomthy Singhan, Pren Dadlami (16), Prasheen Param (15), Satyavrat Rao (11) and Abhijit Shukla (11 not out) also chipped in valuable runs for Singapore.

Rom Shrestha was the pick of the Nepali bowlers with 3-29 from 10 overs while Sagar Khadka took 2-24 from 10 overs. Amrit Bhattarai (1-30), Chandra Saud (1-28), Lal Bahadur Adhikari (1-35) and Prithu Banskota (1-9) also bagged one wicket apiece.

Nepal had a disastrous start losing Sunny Pun (two) in the first over and Antim Thapa (four) was run out at 30-2 by the 10th over. But a stand of 46 runs between Anil Mandal and skipper Gyanendra Malla brough the defending champions back into the game. Malla, who was also instrument in their win over Malaysia on Thursday, again helped his team’s run chase with a stroke filled 62 runs. Malla struck eight boundaries in his 63-ball knock. Anil Mandal also contributed 36 off 54 balls including four hits to the fence. Known for his explosive batting, Rom Shrestha played a subdued innings making unbeaten 16 from 39 balls. Sagar Khadka (15 not out) and Prithu Banskota (13) as chipped in valuable runs as Nepal overcame the target in 44.5 overs. Rom was adjudged man of the match for his allround performance.

Abhijit Singh was the pick of the Singapore bowlers with 3-22. Satyavrat Rao also claimed two and Abhiji Shukla bagged one wicket for Sigapore. Nepal’s Sri Lankan coach Roy Luke Dais said that the game was too close. “Our guys lost wickets in regular intervals and invited unwanted pressure for themselves,” said Dias adding that his side was lacking a quality spinner.

Malla also believed that they threw untimely wickets and invited pressure. “We also conveded a bit more runs due to our sloppy fielding,” said the Nepali skipper showing concerns that his players are not taking the responsibility seriously. Nepal will play their last Group ‘A’ match against Hong Kong at Hubara grounds on Monday.

In addition, The Kathmandu Post says:

Earlier, Nepal had problems aplenty with bowling as two main spinners Lal Bdr. Adhikari and Sagar Khadka were down with flu. According to team manager Sailesh Kumar Chaudhary, the coach and the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) officials are looking at the option of getting players from back home to replace the unfit ones.

” The match was too close for comfort,” coach Roy Dias said, ” as we lost wickets as regular interval and gave away too many runs due to lapse in fielding.”