Nepal put a foot on the semifinal of the ACC Trophy Elite 2008 registering a six-wicket win over Singapore on Monday at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Vice-captain Paras Khadka scored unbeaten 71 and partnered Shakti Gauchan for unbeaten 62 runs to take Nepal to a convincing victory in 40.5 overs chasing Singapore’s total of 155/9.
Paras’ second half-century in three innings came at a time when Nepal looked in trouble once again while chasing with three wickets gone for 39. Paresh Lohani (3) survived just eight balls while Kanishka Chaugain again got a start but could not convert that into a big score as he too was bowled by Pramodh Raja for 16. Sharad Vesawkar survived when he was on zero when wicket-keeper Vivek Vedagiri failed to collect an outside edge but could not stay long as he was bowled by Muhammad Ali for nine on a wicket that had cracks on it.
Paras shared a valuable 55-run stand with Gyanendra Malla (17) who gifted his wicket unnecessarily trying to be aggressive. Shakti and Paras then completed the remaining job without much trouble from the Singaporean bowlers.
Earlier, Singapore never looked to be in control after electing to bat first. It immediately looked a bad decision when it lost Glenn Meyer off the second ball bowled by Mehboob Alam. Muhammad Ali also fell victim to Mehboob while Chetan Suryawanshi tried to stabilize the innings with 32. He was the third victim of Mehboob as Singapore was reduced to 56/3.
Captain Chaminda Ruwan topscored with 40 off 83 balls but disciplined bowling put brakes on the run rate. Singapore then reached 155/9 in 50 overs with some handy contributions from tailenders. In other matches of the day, Hong Kong defeated Qatar by 176 runs while UAE beat Bahrain by eight wickets. Nepal plays Kuwait on Wednesday.
Battle for semifinals
The third win in as many matches has not ensured Nepal’s qualification to the semifinals. Nepal leads the five-team Group ‘B’ with six points, but a series of unfavorable results can end its semifinal hopes.
Hong Kong, with two wins from three matches, plays Singapore on Wednesday while Kuwait, with a win from two matches, still have games against Qatar and Nepal. If Hong Kong beats Singapore and Kuwait wins both games with big margins, Nepal can be out of contention. But this seems unlikely.
If Qatar defeats Kuwait Tuesday, Nepal will qualify as group winner.
| Round | League |
| Toss | Singapore |
| Umpires | Dushantha Ekanayake/ Tanvir Ahme |
| Scorers | Hamidah Ramlan / Puteh Norsila |
| MoM | Paras Khadka |
| Points | Singapore 0, Nepal 2 |
| Result | Nepal win by 6 wickets |
Singapore Innings
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| G Meyer | b M Alam | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| C Suryawanshi | b M Alam | 32 | 37 | 3 | 2 | |
| M Ali | b M Alam | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | |
| C Ruwan* | st M Chhetri | b SP Gauchan | 40 | 83 | 3 | 1 |
| M Arora | b P Khadka | 4 | 19 | 0 | 0 | |
| C Janik | run out | 8 | 29 | 1 | 0 | |
| N Reddy | st M Chhetri | b SP Gauchan | 4 | 11 | 1 | 0 |
| P Raja | c&b B Regmi | 10 | 42 | 0 | 0 | |
| V Vedagiri+ | c M Chhetri | b RK Pradhan | 11 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| S Razak | not out | 12 | 22 | 1 | 0 | |
| R Madakia | not out | 13 | 17 | 1 | 0 | |
| extras | (b1 lb9 w11) | 21 | ||||
| TOTAL | 9 wickets for | 155 |
| FOW 1-0(G Meyer) 2-22(M Ali) 3-56(C Suryawanshi) 4-68(M Arora) 5-81(C Janik) 6-92(N Reddy) 7-101(C Ruwan) 8-124(V Vedagiri) 9-130(P Raja) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W |
| M Alam | 10 | 3 | 25 | 3 |
| B Das | 8 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| P Khadka | 9 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| SP Gauchan | 10 | 1 | 17 | 2 |
| B Regmi | 7 | 1 | 30 | 1 |
| RK Pradhan | 6 | 2 | 11 | 1 |
Nepal Innings
| Batsman | Fieldsman | Bowler | Runs | Bls | 4s | 6s |
| P Lohani | b P Raja | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | |
| K Chaugai | b P Raja | 16 | 31 | 1 | 0 | |
| S Vesawkar | b M Ali | 9 | 24 | 1 | 0 | |
| P Khadka | not out | 71 | 97 | 8 | 2 | |
| G Malla | c M Ali | b R Madakia | 17 | 40 | 1 | 0 |
| SP Gauchan | not out | 30 | 46 | 4 | 0 | |
| extras | (lb2 w7 nb1) | 10 | ||||
| TOTAL | 4 wickets for | 156 |
| FOW 1-4(P Lohani) 2-28(K Chaugai) 3-39(S Vesawkar) 4-94(G Malla) |
| Bowler | O | M | R | W |
| P Raja | 8 | 1 | 28 | 2 |
| M Ali | 9.5 | 2 | 29 | 1 |
| S Razak | 4 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
| C Ruwan | 6 | 1 | 28 | 0 |
| N Reddy | 7 | 2 | 29 | 0 |
| R Madakia | 6 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
PHOTO: Peter Lim/Asian Cricket Council