Sameer Nepal took six wickets as Nepal routed Thailand by eight wickets at the BSAM Ground in the ACC U-15 Elite Cup 2007 on Tuesday.Sameer’s performance reduced Thailand innings to 59 in 22.3 overs before captain Prithu Baskota hit unbeaten 28 to complete victory in 13.2 overs.
The match between the top and lowest ranked teams was a mismatch and the only moment of joy for Thais came when they took two early wickets of Nepal. Sagar Pun failed again and was given out leg-before off Kshitij Jhaveri while Akash Pariyar gave a return catch to Jhaveri after scoring 12.
From 15/2, Prithu partnered Nischal Singh Chaudhary and riding on a couple of dropped catches, they took two-time defending champion to victory. Prithu hit three fours and a six that injured a student of the school. Nischal remained unbeaten on 14 off 29 balls.
Earlier, Nepal invited Thailand to bat first. Opening bowler Pradeep Aire took two wickets to reduce it to 10/2 before man-of-the-match Sameer got into his groove. Sameer bowled 7.3 overs giving away 16 runs for six wickets while Bhuwan Karki too got a couple of scalps.
Jhaveri was the topscorer with 16 and the only other batsman to reach double figure was Praveen Parakh (11). Nepal plays Oman on Wednesday at IOE, Pulchowk.
UAE vs Kuwait
In another match, UAE humiliated Kuwait by 187 runs. Asked to bat first, UAE raced to 259/8 in 40 overs and bowled out Kuwait for 72 runs in 22.3 overs.
For UAE Mohammad Yousuf scored 55 and Saurabh Kantgir got 50 off 42 balls. Shaaz Ahamad scored 43 and added 82-run with Yousuf for the first wicket. Aqib Malik too got run-a-ball 31 while Shoaib Nasir hit three fours and two sixes for 15-ball 32. Abdul Sheikh of Kuwait took three wickets.
In response, Kuwait lost the last seven wickets in 20 runs with man-of-the-match Nasir being the wrecker-in-chief. Nasir took four wickets in 15 balls giving away just a run while Jeremy Joseph got three. For Kuwait, only Sheerjeel Tahir (12), Sheikh (12) and Apoorva Sanjay (11) crossed double figure.