A day after losing to Afghanistan, Nepal staked its claim for the U-17 Asia Cup title with a 10-wicket hammering of novice Brunei today at the Penang Sports Club, Malaysia.
Though, Nepal’s qualification to quarterfinal is not ensured mathematically, it looks unlikely for Brunei to pull up a massive win against Afghanistan on Sunday. If Afghanistan defeats Brunei, Nepal qualifies to the last eight, and to the next year’s event, as Group C runner-up.
Pacer Nirmal Simangaida, from Bhairahawa, wreaked havoc on the Brunei top-order once it came to bat after losing the toss. His four wickets, aided by two each from Sunam Gautam and Sushant Thapa, ended Brunei innings at 34 runs in 19.3 overs – the lowest score by any opponent in U-17 level against Nepal. Nepal had bowled out Bahrain for 42 in 2000 in Pakistan.
Nirmal’s bowling figure is the second best by any Nepali bowlers at U-17 level. Although, he couldn’t match Raj Shrestha’s 7/16, he bettered Irfan Siddique’s 4/17 giving away just six runs in his nine overs. Sunam bowled two overs giving away a run and Sushant bowled nine balls without giving a run.
Javneel Parekh scored 10 and was the only batsman among four of those who opened their accounts to get to double digit. Seven Brunei batsmen failed to score. Nepal also showed agility in the field running two batsmen out.
In reply, Nepali openers Dipen Shrestha and Rajan Khadgi just needed four overs to get to the total. Dipen’s unbeaten 18 off 10 balls and Rajan’s 10 of 13 saw Nepal home.
In other matches, UAE registered its second straight win in Group D defeating Thailand by four wickets. Thailand scored 87/9 in 45 overs after winning the toss while UAE chased it in 22.5 overs losing six wickets. On Saturday, it had defeated Malaysia by 21 runs. In Group A, Qatar won the second successive match defeating Oman by 38 runs. It scored 215 in 39.1 overs and bowled out Oman for 177 in 40.2 overs. Bahrain bowled Hong Kong out for 99 runs in 37 overs and surpassed the score in 33.4 overs losing four wickets.
In Group B, Singapore won the second match beating Kuwait by five wickets. Kuwait batted first to score 127/9 in 45 overs which Singapore reached in 36.3 overs. Saudi Arabia registered a big win after a two-wicket loss to Singapore. It bowled out Bhutan for 47 runs in 21 overs to register a 205-run win.