SAG Cricket: Nepal fails to impress

Nepal concluded the South Asian Games (SAG) as expected with losses against Test nations and a solidarity win over Maldives.

On the bronze medal match against Pakistan, Nepal gave a tough fight. Winning toss, Nepal scored 147/6 in 20 overs but failed to defend it as Pakistan reached the target in the last over losing eight wickets. Pakistan claimed the bronze medal in the five-team events. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh reached the final.

Pradeep Airee scored unbeaten 52 for Nepal while captain Gyanendra Malla contributed 30 runs for Nepal.

Nepal finished fourth in the round-robin league of the Twenty20 cricket in U-21 winning against Maldives in the final league match on February 6.

Nepal vs Maldives

Anil Mandal produced a brilliant all-round show to led Nepal to an emphatic 10 wickets victory over Maldives at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Bowling medium pace, Mandal picked four wickets for nine runs in 3.4 overs after Maldives won the toss and elected to bat first.
Maldives were bowled out for 55 in 16.4 overs. Amrit Bhattarai and Bhuwan Karki each grabbed two wickets while Gyanendra took a wicket.

Nepal in reply romped home without any loss. Anil Mandal followed his four wickets by slamming an unbeaten 29 off 21 deliveries, striking three boundaries and one six. Subash Khakurel hit four boundaries in his 27 not out.

Nepal vs Pakistan

Pakistan beat Nepal by 91 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on February 3.

Pakistan Captain Umer Amin smashed powerful 53 of 32 that included four 4s and two 6s and Ali Asad banged an unbeaten 45 in 33 balls with three boundaries as batting first, they powered their team to 173/2 after electing to bat first.

Nepal in reply were restricted to 82/8 in 20 overs with spinner Nayyar Abbas and Kamran Hussain taking two wickets each.

Left hander openers Umar and Ali Waqas gave their team a flying start of 75 runs in 7.5 overs. Pakistan raced their 50 in 4.4 overs.

Ali Waqas made 27 in 25 balls with four boundaries before caught by substitute fieldsman Naresh Budair off Bhuwan Bhatta.

After Umer departed at 89 in 11th over, Ali Asad and Adil Amin plundered the weak Nepal bowling. Ali Asad got great support from Adil Amin, who hit a punishing unbeaten 35 after facing just 20 balls and it was spiced with four delightful boundaries.

Only three Nepal reached double figures with three failing to open their account. Pradeep hit two boundaries in his 21 and Gayandra Malla also 21 with solitary boundary.

Nepal vs Sri Lanka

On January 31, Nepal lost to Sri Lanka by 64 runs in at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi.

Electing to bat first, Sri Lanka scored 166/8. In reply, Nepal could only manage 102/3.

Rupesh Sriwastav was the pick of the Nepali bowlers with four wickets while Anil Mandal, Aakash Gupta and Gyanendra Malla claimed one apiece.

Mandal top scored with 28 runs while Pradeep Airee made 24 runs for Nepal. Subhash Khakurel also contributed 22 runs.

Nepal vs Bangladesh

Bangladesh made a flying start with an emphatic eight-wicket win in the inaugural match at the Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi on January 30.

Batting first after winning the toss, Nepal scored 80/7 in 20 overs with Binod Bhandari making 18, Subash 14, Gyanendra 14 and Sagar Khadka not out 10.

Sanjamul Islam claimed three wickets for 22 runs while Nazmul Islam, Ariful Haque, Shubhashis Roy and Emon Ahmed took one wicket each.

In reply, Bangladesh easily reached their target scoring 83 runs in 9.3 overs for the loss of two wickets with opener Mohammad Mithun hammering 41 runs off 21 balls that featured seven fours and a six.

Asif Ahmed scored not out 25 off 18 balls with four fours, Nasir Hossain made not out 9 off 10 balls and Rony Talukder 5 runs off 8 balls with a boundary. Bhuwan grabbed both the wickets giving away 37 runs.

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