Nepali spinners weaved a six-wicket victory over Hong Kong in the opening match of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup at the TU Cricket Ground. Bahrain and Singapore also began with victories.
Man of the Match Nischal Pandey of Nepal. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
Nepali spinners weaved a six-wicket victory over Hong Kong in the opening match of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup at the TU Cricket Ground. Bahrain and Singapore also began with victories.
Left-arm spinners Nischal Pandey and Sushan Bhari Shrestha shared seven wickets between them to bowl out Hong Kong for 88 runs in 35.4 overs. Dipendra Chand scored unbeaten 38 with five fours from 47 balls as Nepal reached the target in 18.3 overs.
Nischal returned with 4/6 in 6.4 overs while Sushan grabbed 3/22 in his 8 overs. They overshadowed a disciplined bowling performance from pacers early on who made it difficult for Hong Kong to score.
Due to their exploit, Hong Kong lost their last six wickets for only four runs. Earlier, Hari Chaulagain and Bibek Chaudhary took a wicket each.
Hong Kong’s captain Miten Khatri scored 27 and opener Anshuman Rath got 18 runs. No other batsmen reached the double-digit.
Dipendra’s innings achored Nepal’s innings in which Kinchit Shah took three wickets putting Nepal under pressure. Sharad Khadka scored 14 and partnered 31 with Dipendra.
At IOE, Bahrain dominated Kuwait in their thumping victory. After choosing to bat, Kuwait were bowled out for 111 in 21.4 overs.
Bahrain lost three wickets on the way but won comfortably in 21 overs with Momhad Sameer Fayyaz hitting six for the victory.
Kuwait began well with openers adding 27 runs in four overs but then onwards, it was a sorry tale of batting apart from the fifth-wicket stand of 41 runs between Abdul Zabar and Avhinash Mohan.
Zabar and opener Zakaria Liaquat Ali got 18 each while Mohan and Sharukh Quddus Mirza each scored 13 runs for Kuwait.
Man of the match Lalith Lal (3/16) and Aditya Sarkar (3/27) were the most successful bowler Bahrain bowlers while Fayyaz took two and Aryan Gupta and Akshaya Krishna grabbed a wicket.
Bahrain began strongly with 26/0 in five overs and despite losing two quick wickets in the middle, they were put out of danger with Aditya Krishna (33 not out off 45 with five fours) and Fayyaz (35 not out in 29 balls with four boundaries and a six) taking them home comfortably.
Avhinash Mohan took all three wickets giving away 24 runs in seven overs.
At BSAM, Singapore defeated Malaysia by 53 runs.
Batting first, Ishaan Shekhar and Vikas Rajagopal each scored a half-century as Singapore posted 194/9 in 40 overs. Rajagopal scored 56 off 58 balls with three fours and two sixes while Shekhar got 52 off 60 balls with six boundaries for Singapore.
Rajagopal and Shekhar added 92 runs for second wicket. Shivan Ahuja (22), Samuez James Franks (17) and Keshav Rohit Rajgoapl (12) contributed in the total.
For Malaysia, Mohd Fetri Mohd Sham, Mohd Syahadat Ramli, Nik Nabil Safwan Anuay each grabbed two wickets.
Malaysia was bowled out for 141 in 35.2 overs with Ahuja taking 4/32 and Abhiraj Deep Sing claiming 3/24.
For Malaysia, Syahadat Ramli scored 33 and Amerul Hussein got 30 runs. But they squandered a strong start given by openers who added 43 runs in 9 overs.