Skipper Prithu Banskota once again shouldered Nepal’s batting with a promising performance in the all-important tie against Singapore here at the Kelab Aman Ground to keep alive hopes of reaching semifinal in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) U-15 Cup Cricket Tournament.
Prithu made a brilliant half century to ensure Nepal a batting bonus point as it finished the first innings at 156/7 after Singapore elected to field first. In his 126-ball innings, Prithu made 51 valiant runs. He returned one back to Reeza Gaznavi off his own bowling to end his inning while Nepal was on 144.
Subendu Pandey, in the changed role of an opener, opened his account with a boundary towards square leg and played well for his 24 runs scored in 53 balls with three fours. Nepal got a good start of 33/0 in 9 overs before Sagar Pun misjudged a run and got out off a direct hit. He made 12 runs.
The other opener Akash Pariyar once again was trapped leg before the wicket trying a sweep shot. He got 13 runs. Prithu, next to the crease, played superbly to register his second consecutive half century of the tournament.
“We got a good start and playing full quota of 60 overs along with scoring 150 plus was really important to us,” reacted the skipper. “We have to ensure first innings lead in the second day that gives us a chance to qualify for the cup semis.â€Â
He shared the all important 55-run partnership with Bibek Dali who contributed 14 runs but played 85 balls. Surendra Chand, demoted to the middle order form his opening role, remained unbeaten on 7 runs while Krishna Karki made two runs. The last batsman out for Nepal Santosh Bhatta did not open his account as Nepal finished at 156/7 in the allotted 60 overs.
“The boys batted well. They did very well not to concede more than three bowling bonus points to Singapore,” said coach Roy Dias. Dias also said that in the second day Nepal would look to take as many wickets as possible as well as restrict Singapore below 155.
Singapore, in its first innings, is at 42/2 in 25 overs. Once again Krishna Karki provided Nepal the breakthroughs striking twice in his sixth over. He removed Arvav Garg (0) in the fourth ball followed by the wicket of Sachin Mylavarapu (0).
With rain stopping play with half an hour of play still remaining, the match only has 90 overs in the second day. If Nepal ensures lead in the first innings and the match ends in a draw, Nepal would have a good chance to qualify to the cup semifinals with higher bonus points. Nepal so far accumulated two points, one batting and one bowling, today with possibility of five more bonus point in case of a draw and having first innings lead.
On the other hand, Singapore got three bowling bonus points taking seven Nepali wickets. Currently, both the teams have equal bonus points, 21 each. With the heavy afternoon shower, play tomorrow seems unlikely to start on time all suggesting the importance of maintaining the first innings lead for both the teams. Singapre has got 35 overs to make 114 runs to take first innings lead.
By Devendra, Malaysia