Nepal stormed into the semifinal of the Acc Trophy Elite on Tuesday with a convincing 125 run win over Hong Kong in a must win match at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai.
Captain Paras Khadka with man of the match. Photo by Asian Cricket Council
Skipper Paras Khadka put another good show in batting department scoring the highest 61 runs for Nepal as it garnered 225/7 in the 50-over match. In bowling, Amrit Bhattarai and Basanta Regmi pocketed three wickets each while Khadka claimed two as Hong Kong was bundled out for 100 run in 37 overs. Khadka was later declared the man-of-the-match.
The win was the fourth for Nepal over Hong Kong in a row which finished as the winner of group B while host UAE also advanced as the runner up from the group. Nepal topped the group on the basis of head to head record against UAE despite having lower run rate and equal three victories.
Now Nepal will now take on group A runner up Malaysia in the quarterfinal on Wednesday while the group winner Afghanistan will lock horns against UAE.
This is the sixth occasion that Nepal have made it to the semifinal in nine editions of the tournament. Nepal had made it to the final in 2002 and 2010 while it was semifinalist in 2000, 2006 and 2008 editions. In the first two editions — 1996 and 1998 — Nepal was out from the group stage.
On Tuesday, Nepal that opted to bat first after winning the toss failed to make good start as its opener Subash Kakurel was out on the second ball without scoring. The other opener Gyanendra Malla made a 70-run partnership with Anil Mandal before he was trapped leg before in 20.4 overs. Malla scored 28 off 51 that included three fences.
Mandal who scored 37 off 74 with four boundaries was run out in the very next over. Nepal was tottering at 112/4 after Sarad Vesawakar returned to the pavilion with 14 runs in his name.
Fourth order batsman skipper Khadka played a 57 runs partnership with Basanta Regmi to steer Nepal to respectable total. Regmi score 31 off 41 that included three fours. Khadka (61) was caught out in the 43rd over. Khadka´s who came up with aggressive batting struck six boundaries and two sixes facing 54 deliveries.
Prithu Baskota was out for 12 runs. Pradip Aire (25) and Shakti Gauchan (5) remained unbeaten. Aire´s who faced 26 deliveries hit a six in the last over and two fours.
Hong Kong´s bowler Tanwir Afzal, Nizakat Khan and KC Shah claimed two wickets each.
Nepal caught tune in bowling after left handed pacer Amrit Bhattarai took an important wicket of Irfan Ahmed with no runs on board. Ahmed was caught by Sarad Vesawakar, who also caught Hong Kong skipper James Atkinson off Khadka. Hong Kong was tottering for 33-3 after Nizakat Khan was bowled by Guachan. Bhattarai had the bowling figure of 8-1-26-3, Regmi 9-4-20-3 and Khadka 6-1-8-2.
Opener Waqas Barkat (18), James Atkinson (11), B Hayat (unbeaten 27), Tanwir Afzal were the only Hong Kong batsmen to reach the double figure.