Same old story again! Nepal and Malaysia will play the final of the ACC U-19 Cup for the third consecutive time. Nepal will be hoping to repeat the performance of last two years while Malaysia look to avenge.
On Thursday, Nepal defeated Kuwait by 9 wickets while Malaysia edged Qatar by 60 runs in the semifinals.
Nepal v Kuwait
Nepal thrashed Kuwait by 9 wickets at the TU Cricket Ground with Kaniska Chaugai coming up with a captain’s knock.
Nepal will now meet Malaysia, who overcame Qatar’s challenge to register a 60-run victory. This will be third instance the two teams are playing in the final after 2001 and 2003. In both occasions, Nepal won the title to qualify for the Youth World Cup.
Kaniska scored unbeaten 78 in 109 balls and hit eight fours and two sixes – both over fine leg. He partnered Sarad Vesawkar for 102 runs and brought win for Nepal in 37.5 overs.
Yashwant Subedi was the only batsman out. He scored 15 in 34 balls and added 45 runs for the first wickets. Sarad remained unbeaten on 47 off 84 balls with three fours.
Earlier, bowlers put Nepal on the front-foot by dismissing Kuwait for paltry 146 runs in 39.4 overs. After Kaniska decided to field first, the bowlers utilized the morning conditions to bowl dominantly. Amrit picked three, his opening partner Bantu Bataju picked two and Paras Khadka picked one wicket as Kuwaiti batting collapsed to 49/6 in 17 overs.
Kuwaiti captain Sibtain Raza, who has represented Pakistain U-15 team in 2000, and super-sub Mubasher Khalid played the saviors for the team adding 63 runs in 100 balls. Khalid, who began by hitting two consecutive fours, went on to make 40 runs off 50 balls with four boundaries and two sixes.
Sibtain scored 33 in 80 deliveries with three overs. Both Khalid and Sibtain were out on the first over bowled by Shashi Keshari. Shashi castled Khalid’s stumps in his very first delivery and two balls later claimed Sibtain caught by Kaniska at wide mid-wicket. The last wicket partnership of 32 runs between Muddaser Saleem who got 21 with a four and two sixes and Muzamil Khalid took Kuwait to the total.
“It was good toss to win,” coach Roy Dias told NepalCricket.com. “Bowlers made good use of the conditions and gave us a good start.”
“I enjoyed our batting, it was superbly. Not only Kaniska and Sarad played well but Yashwant too batted well,” he said. “I am proud of that.”
Dias said the plan for the final would be made only after having a look at the pitch however he hinted that he would stick with the winning combination. “It’s too late to change the side,” he said. “We should continue with the same winning side.”
Kuwaiti captain cited failure in batting as the cause for defeat. “Nepal bowled really well, our batting was a flop,” Sibtain Raza said. “Wicket too supported them.”
“We were looking at the total around 220-230 which I feel we could have defended,” he added.
Malaysia v Qatar
After Qatar put Malaysia to bat, opener Faris Almas-Lee couldn’t stay long and was out without scoring. But from then on, the luck went to Malaysia as captain Suhan Algaratnam and Ariffin Ramly played Qatari attack with ease and style.
Suhan scored 55 off 43 balls and his fiery innings included 10 fours. It was his pace that he partnered Ezrafiq Azis (12 off 12 balls) for 42 runs. With Ramly, he partnered 34 runs and was stumped off Tamoor Sajjad.
Ramly continued despite losing two of teammates in three balls, as Darvin Muralitharan went for nought. He added 79 with Maxwell Stefen, who made 26 in 73 balls with a four, and 47 with Manrik Singh, who got 28 in 29 deliveries with four fours.
Ramly finally fell to Tamoor after making 74 runs in 126 balls. He hit eight of them to boundary. Malaysia ended up scoring 218/6 in allotted 50 overs.
In reply, Qatari batsmen looked shaky. They lost top four for 28 runs before a few good knocks from lower-order batsmen saved their blues. Deon Britto and Qamar Sadiq each scored 27 while Ibrahim Zahoor and Zaheer Ibrahim got 26 each.
Qatar ended the innings scoring 158 runs in 42.2 overs – 60 runs behind Malaysia’s total. Manrick Singh took three wickets giving away 23 runs in 9.2 overs while Eszafiq Azis and Kasman Kaderi took two each.
Match referee Rumesh Ratnayake declared Ariffin Ramly man of the match.
All Photos: Bikash Karki