Cricket Nepal (Archive)

International Cricket Council (ICC) appointed Malaysia as hosts of the upcoming Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 4.

The ICC Development Committee meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday and Tuesday took the decision.

Likewise, the meeting appointed Bermuda, subject to agreeing to budget proposals, as hosts of Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3.

Earlier, ICC had ruled out the United States of America from hosting WCL Division 4 as the USA failed to meet ICC’s criteria.

Nepal has reached the Division 4 in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League and Nepal will compete against Tanzania, Denmark, Singapore, Malaysia and the USA in the tournament.

Singapore and Malaysia are the two newly promoted teams from the Division 5.

Top two teams of the Division 4 will qualify to the Division 3.

Malaysia turned tables on Nepal to lift the ACC U-16 Elite Cup at their home turf with one wicket victory in a nail biting finish.

Virandeep Singh scored unbeaten 55 to ensure the victory in the last over despite valiant effort by Nepali bowlers to pull an unlikely win after scoring 117 in 33 overs. Nepal had beaten Malaysia by one wicket in the league round.

This is the first ever ACC title for Malaysia.

Nepal could not bat good as it could just get 117 with Akash Bista getting 35. Malaysia’s S Goonasagaram was pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets.

In reply, Malaysia had a good start but lost wickets frequently later as Nepal pulled the match to the last over before Singh hit a four off Kalicharan Yadav to finish things up.

Nepal will face India and Pakistan in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup scheduled to start from June 23 to July 1 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

According to the draw released by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on Saturday, Nepal is placed in the group A with host Malaysia, India and Pakistan.

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Qatar are in Group B. Nepal had qualified for the tournament after finishing in the top three of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup held in Thailand last year.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh qualified for the tournament as Test playing nations, while Malaysia qualified for the tournament as the host.

Agni Air clinched the title of First Wai Wai Corporate Premier League Cricket Tournament defeating Yeti Airlines by seven wickets on Saturday.

In the match played at TU Ground, Kirtipur, Yeti Airlines won the toss and scored 103 runs losing nine wickets in 20 overs. Ravi Sharma scored 25 runs off 40 balls with two boundaries. Sharma and Narendra KC shared a 39-run partnership for the third wicket, which was the highest in the game. Divas Prajapati scored 19 runs off 24 balls. Agni Air conceded 25 runs as extras.

Saurak KC grabbed three wickets off four overs while Gaurav Jain took two wickets.

Agni Air successfully chased the target of 104 runs in 17.4 overs losing three wickets. Agni Air did not start well as they lost openers Nazir Sheikh and Prajwal Shrestha with 31 runs on board. Sheikh was out on 12 runs while Shrestha scored 11 runs.

Player of the final, Gaurav Jain, guided the team to victory as he shared a 45-run partnership with Rahul Bansal for the third wicket. Bansal scored nine runs off 20 balls. A 28-run partnership between Jain and Pranav Malla guided the team to victory. Jain was unbeaten on 61 runs off 42 balls with 10 boundaries while Malla was not out on seven runs off 18 balls.

For the all-round performance in the tournament, Gaurav Jain of Agni Air received Player of the series award. Saroj Maharjan of Max Media and Ravi Sharma of Yeti Airlines were awarded with best bowler and bets batsman award respectively.

Saurav KC of Agni Air was the Purple Cap holder for the most wickets in the tournament and Jain received Orange Cap for being the highest run scorer.

Two years ago, Singapore had stunned Nepal beating them in the ACC U16 Elite Cup final at TU Ground, Kathmandu. Malaysia’s Bayemas Oval offered a chance to avenge that bitter defeat and Nepal produced a classy performance to advance to the final defeating defending champions by 101 runs.

Both captains, Nepal’s Dipendra Chand and Singapore’s Navin Param were part of 2010 final that Singapore won by 68 runs – thanks to spinners led by man of the match Param. This time, Dipendra knew exactly what to do – choosing to bat first and going after pace bowlers to ensure minimal impact of spin.

Dipendra and Nurdhoj Sen opened batting as if they were playing Super Sixes. When Dipendra fell for 20 of 9 balls in fourth over, Nepal already had a solid opening partnership of 40 runs. It provided a foundation for other batsmen to play freely and they utilized the opportunity best reading 240 for 9 in 40 overs.

Nurdhoj scored 51 off 60 balls with 9 fours while the top scorer was Jagdish Chand. Jagdish scored 53 runs off just 24 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. Other contributors were Aadil Khan (21 off 42), Rupesh Bastola (21 off 18), Alfas Mansuri (18 off 32) and Kalicharan Yadav (14 off 6).

For Singapore, Aalap Asuriekar was the most successful bowler taking 4 wickets while Kaushik Illango, Archit Goenka and Abhinav each claimed two wickets.

Although Nepal achieved a comfortable 101-run victory at the end, it didn’t come without early threat from Singaporean batsmen. The openers Archit Goenka and Vaikynth Seshadri added 81 in 16 overs giving enough scares to Nepal. Goenka was run-out on 39 off 51 balls which began the fall of the innings.

Seshadri scored 47 off 72 balls before he fell to another run-out after seeing the innings crumbling with no one else getting runs. The only other batsman to reach double digit was No 9 Simar Miglani, who was not out on 14.

Man of the match Jagdish grabbed 3 wickets along with Akash Bista. Rupesh Bastola and Dipendra Chand also claimed a wicket each.

Nepal will now meet Malaysia in the final on Sunday.

The final match of First Wai Wai Corporate Premier League T20 Cricket Tournament between Agni Air and Yeti Airlines was abandoned on Wednesday without bowling a single ball due to heavy rainfall.

The match is rescheduled for Saturday at the TU Ground, Kirtipur. Yeti Airlines had entered the final defeating Everest Challengers by 38 runs in the first semifinal while Agni Air had registered five wickets victory over You We Rangers in another semifinal.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) called in 24 players, including all the 14 members of the team that participated in the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers, for the closed camp training for the ACC U-19 Asia Cup. The closed camp training is scheduled to start from May 15 inKathmandu.

CAN has called 10 players based on the performance of the recently concluded Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament. Shiva Tandukar, Sushil Kandel, Prajesh Bahadur Singh, Gopal Singh. Binod Lama, Abhishek Jha, Hasim Ansari, Bijay Ghalan, Surendra Chand and Pawan Shrestha are the players selected based on the national tournaments.

Earlier, CAN has given a privilege to the members of the U-19 team, which guided Nepal in the upcoming ICC U-19 World Cup, and all the 14 players were not featured during the national tournaments.

Prithu Banskota, Abinash Karn, Bhuwan Karki, Naresh Budhair, Pradeep Airee, Rahul BK, Rajesh Pulami, Sagar Pun, Subash Khakurel, Subendu Pandey, Faizlur Rehman, Rupesh Srivastav, Krishna Karki and Nischal Pandey are called in directly.

They had guided Nepal to the U-19 World Cup as they had finished on the second position of the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers held in Ireland in July 2011.

The ACC U-19 Asia Cup, the new tournament of the Asian Cricket Council, features Test nations of Asia–India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh– as well as top three teams of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup 2011 –Afghanistan, Nepal and Qatar. Malaysia is included as the host nation.

The ACC U-19 Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Malaysia from June 23 to July 1.

Man-of-the-match Aakash Bista’s all-round performance including a unbeaten 55-run heroic knock helped Nepal to top the group B in the ACC U-16 Elite Cup cricket tournament and remain unbeaten in the tournament on Wednesday.

Batting at No 8, Bista scored not out 55 runs off 93 balls with four boundaries and a huge six to guide the team for a wicket victory over Malaysia. Both Nepaland Malaysia had already qualified for the semifinal.

Nepali coach Manzur Alam Khan said that the players could not play as per their standard and lost wickets in regular intervals. “We were near defeat but the team spirit of the players guided us for the victory,” said Khan. “We must not repeat these mistakes in the semifinal,” he added.

In chasing a moderate target of 140 runs set by Malaysia, Nepal had lost its top order and middle order batsmen cheaply. Openers Dipendra Chand (5) and Nurdhoj Sen (9) could not repeat previous performance and failed to put up a solid opening stand.

Aashif Seikh (1), Sashi Misra (5), last match man-of-the-match winner Aadil Khan (6), Rabin Gupta (0) and Jagdish Chand (0) also returned pavilion quickly. Nepal had lost its seven wickets with 41 runs on board in 10.2 overs.

Bista and Rupesh Bastola shared 29-run partnership for the eighth wicket. Bastola gave away his wicket adding 18 runs off 30 balls that included three boundaries. Bista again shared 18-run partnership with Kalicharan Yadhav. Yadhav was back to the pavilion on 11 runs off 17 balls.

An unbeaten 52-run partnership of Bista and Nepali tail Anup Neupane guidedNepalfor a wicket victory. Neupane was unbeaten with 13 runs off 40 balls.Nepalreceived 17 runs as extras.

Sharvin Muniandy grabbed four wickets in eight overs conceding 23 runs. Pavandeep Singh and Ainool Yatim shared two wickets each. One Nepali batsman was short to the crease.

Earlier, Malaysia had won the toss and scored 139 runs in 37.1 overs losing all wickets. Amin Amanda was the highest scorer for Malaysia with 28 rusn off 28 balls with a boundary and a six. Opener Virandeep Singh scored 26 runs off 70 balls with two boundaries.

Shankar Goonasagaran and Sharvin Muniandy scored 12 runs each. Nepali bowlers conceded 35 runs as extras.

Bista was the successful bowler for Nepal as he grabbed two wickets and ran out two Malaysian batsmen. Kalicharan Yadhav, Rupesh Bastola and Dipendra Chand shared a wicket each.

Nepal will face last edition winner Singapore in the semifinal on Friday at Kinrara Cricket Ground.

Nepal produced consecutive victory in the ongoing ACC U-16 Elite Cup cricket tournament, outplaying Bahrain by eight wickets at the Kinrara cricket ground in Malaysia on Sunday.

Nepal reached the 142-run target losing only two wickets in 21.2 overs, with man of the match Dipendra Chand top-scoring 75. Nurdhoj Sen made 41.

Earlier, wining the toss and electing to bat first, Bahrain scored 141, losing all wickets, in 39.5 overs. Nepali bowler Akash Bista took three wickets conceding just14 runs.

On Friday, Nepal in their opening match had defeated Kuwait by 78 runs, while Bahrain lost their first match against Malaysia by 43 runs.

Nepal will take on Iran at the Bayuemas cricket ground on Tuesday.

Nepal started the ACC U-16 Elite Cup campaign with a win on Friday as Nurdhoj Sen as well as Kushal Bhurtel excelled with bat and Kali Charan Yadav showed his brilliance with the ball to pull a 78-run victory over Kuwait.

Nepal elected to bat first at the Bayuemas Oval Ground in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Nepal put up 179 runs losing all the wickets in 32.4 overs and bowled out Kuwait at 101 runs in 32.5 overs.

Nepal lost their first wicket with 11 runs on board in 1.3 overs. However, Sen and Bhurtel anchored the Nepali innings. Sen scored 47 runs off 58 balls including six boundaries while Bhurtel hit 35 runs off 54 balls including four boundaries. Sashi Mishra added 10 runs. Akash Bista and Kali Charan Yadav contributed 20-run partnership for the last wicket while rest of the batsmen failed to score in double digits. Bista remained unbeaten with 11 runs off 11 balls while Yadav chipped in with 12 runs off 11 balls.Kuwaitgave away 32 runs as extras including 28 wides.

Morshed Sarwar took four wickets forKuwaitwhile Saideep Yarapureddy claimed two wickets. Fazlur Rehman, Meezan Ali and Abdul Wahab claimed a wicket each.

Chasing the 180-run target, Kuwait were all out for 101 runs in 32.5 overs after Yadav took four wickets. Yarapureddy scored 38 runs off 64 balls and Faizan Sadiq hit 27 runs off 59 balls before Sashi Mishra claimed the wickets of both of them. Rest of the Kuwait batsmen failed to reach double-digit score. Nepalgave away 13 runs as extras. Man-of-the-match Yadav bowled eight overs, gave away 13 runs keeping four maiden overs to claim the four wickets. Jagadish Chand took two wickets while Akash Bista claimed a wicket.

“I had told boys to bat all the 40 overs but we lost some quick wickets and were bowled out in 32.4 overs. Nurdhoj Sen and Kushal Bhurtel’s innings helped us a lot to get a good total,” said Nepali coach Manjur Alam Khan to Republica on telephone. “In bowling Kali Charan did a fantastic job though two of their batsmen had troubled us for some time,” he added.

Coach Alam said that the victory gave a morale boost to his boys. “The first victory was important for us to give morale boost to the newly assembled team. However, we have more important matches left in the group stage to qualify to the semifinal and we are focused on the next match now,” said Alam.

Nepalwill take onBahrainat the Kinrara Oval Ground on Sunday in its second match of the ongoing tournament.

It was the second occasion thatNepalbeatKuwaitin the ACC U-16 Elite Cup history.Nepal had defeatedKuwaitby 101 runs in the first edition of the tournament held in Kathmandu in 2010. Nepal had finished the first edition as runner-up in 2010.

ACC U-16 Elite Cup, Malaysia, Day 1 – Kuwait v Nepal at Bayuemas Oval

Nepal will take on Kuwait on Friday at the Bayuemas Oval Cricket Ground in their first match of the second edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Nepal are placed in the group B of the tournament along with Malaysia, Kuwait, Iran and Bahrain. Nepali team under the coach Manjur Alam Khan and captain Dipendra Chand is participating in the tournament.

Nepal had defeated Kuwait in the first edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup held in Nepal in 2010. Nepal had won the match by 101 runs then as Nischal Pandey had scored 59 runs and taken five wickets in the match.

Current U-16 captain Dipendra Chand and his teammate Jagdish Chand were also the part of the Nepali U-16 team that beat Kuwait in 2010.

Nepal had lost to Singapore in the final of the first edition.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has awarded central contracts to 18 players for the last six months and made a payment to them on Thursday amidst a function in the capital. It was the first time CAN has awarded central contracts to players.

Six month ago, CAN had decided to pay cricketers Rs 5,000 per month for the central contracts.

According to CAN General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakuryal, the 18 players were in the Nepali national teams during the ACC T20 Cup and ICC World T20 Qualifiers.

“Players, who were in both ACC T20 Cup and ICC World T20 teams received the contract amount for six months and those in only either one of the two teams received three months’ pay,” said Pyakurel. “There will be new contracts for the year 2069. Most probably, we will continue our contracts with the 18 players,” he added.

Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Prithu Banskota, Mehboob Alam, Pradeep Airee, Sharad Veshwakar, Basant Regmi, Sanjam Regmi, Amrit Bhattarai and Anil Mandal were in both the teams. Subash Khakurel, Binod Bhandari, Rahul BK and Binod Das had played only in the ACC T20 while Pares Lohani, Chandra Saud, Shakti Gauchan and Krishna Karki had replaced them in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers.

National Sports Council Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama handed over checks to the players.

CAN also awarded Rs 10,000 each to the members of the Nepali team that completed ICC World T20 Qualifiers with seventh position.Nepalwas ranked 16th among the associate and affiliate member countries of the ICC before the tournament.

“It is only a stepping stone to encourage players. We’ll continue the contracts and work to increase the pay,” said Tanka Aangbuhang, CAN president. “Though we had declared to pay cricketers six months ago, we could not do so on time due to some technical reasons,” he added.

Meanwhile, Aangbuhang announced ‘Cricketers Welfare Fund’ with seed money of Rs 1 million. General Secretary Pyakurel announced that CAN will award Rs 10,000 each to the members of the Nepali team that participated in the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers and helpedNepalto qualify in the ICC U-19 World Cup to be held inAustraliain August.

Addressing the function, NSC Member-Secretary Lama said NSC has considered cricket as one of the top priority sport and would help in developing infrastructure for the same in the near future. “The state has to do a lot to develop cricket. Whatever CAN has been doing is commendable but it is not sufficient since cricket has immense scope,” said Lama.

CAN Vice President TB Shah said his organization would do all to provide training, exposure and rewards to cricketers.

Everest Challengers registered their second victory in a row on Thursday while Max Media tasted first win during group stage match in the First Wai Wai Corporate Premier League T20 Cricket 2012 played at the TU Ground, Kirtipur.

In course of achieving the second victory in the group A, Everest Challengers thumped You We Rangers by seven wickets. You We Rangers is in second place with equal two points as that of Max Media.

Electing to bat first, You We Rangers made a moderate score of 109\\8 but failed to defend the total as Everest Challengers made 113\\3 in 19.1 overs.

The Reebok player of the match Arun Chand hammered unbeaten 45 off 43 in Everest’s run chase with six fences. Skipper Chatur Chand remained unbeaten for 28 runs from as many balls. Om Karmacharya (15) was the other batsman to collect double digit score for Everest which got 22 runs in extras. Nikhil Goyal and Pratik Bagaria took one wicket apiece of Everest.

Earlier, skipper Nikhil Goyal collected 30 runs from as many deliveries for You We Rangers before being run out. Abhishek Agrawal (23), Aditya Todi (13) and Rahul Dhanuka (11) were the other players to score double digit figure for You We Rangers that got 18 extra runs. Rabin Thapaliya took two wickets for Everest.

In another match of the same group, Max Media defeated Global Bank by 10 runs. Global is yet to earn points and lies at the bottom of points table. Opting to bat first, Max Media scored 120\\9 and restricted Global Bank at 110\\8.

Prithivi Kharel top scored with 20 off 20 balls remaining unbeaten, while Pradyu Dhanwantari collected 16 runs for Max Media before being run out by Bobby Mulmi. Diwas Lal Nyachhon was also unbeaten on 14 runs. Skipper Kuldip Malla scored 13 runs. Max Media also got 28 extra runs.

Skipper Ranjan Thapa of Global Bank pocketed three wickets and Sagar Bahadur Singh took two wickets.

In its run chase, Ranjan Thapa scored 29 off 42 with five boundaries before being stumped by Deepak Singh. Bobby Mulmi (18) was the only other player to collect double digit figure. Max Media’s Saroj Maharjan claimed three wickets while Prithivi Kharel and Deepak Singh got two wickets apiece. Kharel was declared the Reebok man of the match.

Nepali U-16 cricket team leftKathmanduon Wednesday to participate in the ACC U-16 Elite Cup scheduled to be held inKuala Lumpur,Malaysiafrom May 4 to 13.

“We want to return home with the title,” said U-16 skipper Dipendra Chand during a function held at the Dasharath Stadium to bid farewell to the team on Wednesday.

Member Secretary of National Sports Council Yuvaraj Lama and Senior Vice-president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) TB Shah bade farewell to the players. Speaking on the occasion, Lama urged the players to perform well in the tournament. “We will be watching your performance and our wishes are with you.”

Coach Manjur Alam Khan said the team woul focus on a match at a time. “Bowling and batting are the key strengths of our team. Our spinners are capable of winning matches for us.”

“There’s pressure on us but we take it as a challenge. We are mentally and physically fit for the tournament.”

Skipper Chand said they have an all-round team. “I want to lift the trophy as we had finished second in the last edition. Though we didn’t have enough practice, we are capable of lifting the trophy.”

Nepal Telecom and You We Rangers registered wins on the second day of the First Wai Wai Corporate Premier League T20 Cricket Tournament on Wednesday. In the matches played at the TU Ground,Kirtipur,NepalTelecom registered an eight-wicket victory over Private Public Partner while You We Rangers defeated Max Media by 27 runs.

Private Public Partner won the toss and scored 173 runs losing three wickets. Mandip Regmi scored an unbeaten 71 runs off 55 balls with nine fours and two sixes. Amardeep Mahato scored 47 runs off 35 balls with eight fours.

Binay Pokharel claimed two wickets for Nepal Telecom while Gopal KC took the other wicket.

Nepal Telecom successfully chased the target of 174 runs in 15.4 overs losing two wickets. Netra Bhatta scored 62 runs off 40 balls with nine fours while Yuvraj Shrestha scored an unbeaten 55 runs off 41 balls with five fours and a six.

Amardeep Mahato and Bikash Sharma took a wicket each for Private Public Partner.

In another match, You We Rangers was invited to bat first and was bowled out for 153 runs in 19.2 overs. Chirag Mahipal scored 47 runs off 28 balls with seven fours and a six.

Rajat Rana grabbed five wickets in three overs while Saroj Maharjan took three wickets for Max Media.

Chasing the target of 154 runs, Max Media could manage only 126 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Kuldip Malla scored 38 runs off 36 balls while Rajat Rana remained unbeaten on 26 runs off 30 balls.

Rahul Dhanuka claimed three wickets for You We Rangers while Pratik Bagaria and Chirag Mahipal took two wickets each.

Everest Challengers and Agni Air started the First Wai Wai Corporate Premier League T20 Cricket Tournament with wins on Tuesday.

In the matches played at TU Ground, Kirtipur, Everest Challengers registered 21 runs victory over Global Bank while Agni Air defeated Chaudhary Group by 42 runs.

Winning the toss, Everest Challengers opted to bat first and scored 143 runs losing five wickets. Om Karmacharya was unbeaten on 45 runs off 50 balls with five boundaries. Rabin Thapaliya scored unbeaten 31 runs off 21 balls with four boundaries and a huge six. Narendra Chand scored 42 runs off 32 balls with seven boundaries.

Sagar Bahadur Singh grabbed three wickets in four overs conceding 30 runs.

Chasing the target of 144 runs, Global Bank managed to score 122 at the loss of eight wickets. Arun Chand and Rabin Thapaliya grabbed two wickets each for Everest Challengers. Chatur Chand and Narendra Chand took a wicket each.

Niroj Pandey was the highest scorer for Global Bank with 29 runs off 29 balls with two boundaries. Ganesh Pal scored 28 runs off 33 balls while Ranjan Thapa scored 21 runs.

In another match, Agni Air won the toss and scored 210 runs losing five wickets. Gaurav Jain scored 75 runs off 42 balls with 14 boundaries and a huge six. Rahul Bansal scored quick-fire 34 runs off 12 balls that included two boundaries and three sixes. Prajwol Shrestha scored 32 runs off 31 balls.

Shivaraj Tiwari grabbed four wickets in three overs conceding 24 runs. Raj Joshi, Sushil Acharya and Nabin Basnet shared a wicket each.

Chaudhary Group managed to score 168 runs at the cost of seven wickets in chasing the target of 211 runs. Sushil Acharya scored 36 runs off 21 balls with five boundaries and a six. Uddhav Khadka scored 34 runs off 27 balls while Narendra Jaisawal scored 25 runs.

Rabindra Singh and Ram Rawal grabbed two wickets each while Gaurav Jain took a wicket for Agni Air.

The First Wai Wai Corporate Premier League T-20 Cricket Tournament kicks off on Tuesday at the TU Ground, Kirtipur.

Shangrila Cricket Academy is organizing the tournament in association with Chaudhary Group to raise awareness about the importance of hand washing.

Cricket Association of Nepal is providing technical support for the tournament. Altogether 10 corporate houses are competing in the nine-day tournament.

The participating teams are Everest Challengers, Nepal Telecom, Chaudhary Group, Global Bank, Private Public Partner, Agni Air, You We Challengers, Yeti Airlines, UNICEF and Max Media.

The tournament will be played in league-cum-knockout format. Two teams from Group A will qualify for the semifinals while a team each from Group B and C will advanced into the semifinals.

According to the organizers, to raise awareness about the importance of washing hands, stalls will be kept at the venue where people can use soap and water to cleaning their hands.

Lal Babu Prasad, assistant general manager of Chaudhary Group, said they will provide all the required material for the tournament as well as soft drinks to the student viewers.

“Around 500 students will be participating daily in the tournament as this tournament is organized for a social cause.”

The organizers informed that the total cost of the tournament is around Rs 500,000 to 800,000.

Despite playing at the home, Nepali U-16 cricket team led by Switchon Shah had to satisfy only as runner-up in the first edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup in 2010. Singapore had defeated Nepal in the final of the first edition.

New bunch of Nepali U-16 cricketers are gearing up for the second edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup and they have not only to step into the shoes of their seniors but also to move one-step ahead and win the title. The second edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup will be held in Malaysia from May 4 to 13.

The current U-16 team has been going through last phase of closed camp training under the guidance of coach Manjur Alam Khan. Deependra Chand is the captain of the U-16 Nepali team.

“We got very short period to prepare for the tournament. However, I’m focusing the closed cup training on match scenario and match practices. Boys are improving in all departments,” said Khan.

Khan said that he is working on the area of fitness also. “I’m trying to make boys fit enough in the short training period. They have a pressure to be fit but it is only to a limit,” said Khan.

“We have a bunch of talented players in the team. If you ask me to name some of them, they would be Deependra Chand, Adil Khan, Shashi Bhusan Mishra as batsmen, Jagadish Chand and Kali Charan Yadave as medium pacers and Rupesh Banstola as spinner,” added Khan.

Khan described the upcoming tournament as a challenge for himself and the whole team. “It is certainly a challenge for the team but challenges give us opportunities to prove ourselves,” said Khan.

The U-16 team has been training 4-5 hours daily at the TU Cricket Ground under the closed camp training. “Our ultimate aim is to win the title but to reach there we’ll focus on a match at a time,” said Khan.

Region No 6 Baitadi, who won the National U-16 Cricket Tournament last month, proved to be an emerging power of domestic cricket as they clinched the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament on Thursday.

Baitadi edged past Region No 2 Birgunj by four wickets in the final of the Wai Wai U-19 at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur to claim the back-to-back titles.

Birgunj won the toss and elected to bat but the decision proved to be fatal as Baitadi bowled them out for only 100 runs in 37.2 overs and successfully chased the target in 31.4 overs losing six wickets.

Birgunj had won all the three group-stage matches of the tournament as their openers Hasim Ansari and Bijay Ghalan had given them good start. Ansari and Ghalan had put up 97-run partnership against Region No 1 Biratnagar, 60-run partnership against Pokhara and 70-run partnership against Kathmandu in the group stage matches.

However, the duo failed against Baitadi and produced only 17-run stand for the first wicket. As Ansari lost his wicket in the 2.4 overs scoring only 15 runs off 15 balls, Birgunj started losing wickets on regular intervals.

Suraj Kurmi (30 runs off 67 balls) and Aakib Ansari (18 runs off 54 balls) displayed some sensible batting and tried to anchor Birgunj innings. However, they both lost the wicket as they tried to accelerate scoring.

Bikram Sob took the prize wicket of Hasim Ansari but Prem Tamang did the most damage to Birgunj taking three wickets. Santosh Bhatta, Yagya Man Kumal and Binod Lama claimed two wickets each to rattle Birgunj.

Chasing the low total, openers Surendra Chand and Prem Tamang gave a good start to Baitadi putting up 59-run partnership. Hasim Ansari took the wicket of Tamang, who scored 18 runs off 57 balls, in 16.1 overs.  Baitadi suffered a mini-collapse after losing the first wicket. Akib Ansari took the wicket of another opener Chand, who scored 38 runs off 44 balls, in 17.3 overs. Akib also took the wickets of Chandan Rawal (naught) and Bikram Sob (Two runs) while Hasim caught and bowled Santosh Bhatta (eight runs). Baitadi were at 79/5 in 22.6 overs.

Saurav Chand anchored the Baitadi innings scoring unbeaten 22 runs off 43 balls and putting up 19-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Binod Lama (two runs off 20 balls). Lama was bowled by Hasim in the 30.4 overs when Baitadi were three runs away from victory.

All-rounder Prem Tamang was adjudged man-of-the-match for his three wickets and the 15-run contribution in the 59-run opening stand with skipper Surendra Chand.

“We were confident to pack up Birgunj in low score since we had packed up defending champion Bhairahawa in 83 runs during the group stage match,” said Dipendra Bahadur Chand, the coach of Baitadi. “We got the wickets of Birgunj’s top order easily and ultimately won the match easily. Hasim Ansari’s wicket was the turning point of the match,” he added.

Baitadi captain Surendra Chand applauded his teammates for their all-round efforts. “We were sharp in fielding and we packed them in a low score through our bowling,” said Chand. “We lost five wickets while chasing but ultimately it was an easy victory as we have a long batting line-up in the team,” he added.

Birgunj coach Prakash Sharma lamented over team’s decision to elect for batting after winning the toss. “It was fresh wicket. We decided to bat first but it proved to be very wrong decision. On the other side, our top order failed today (Thrusday),” said Sharma.

Winner Baitadi received Rs 25,000 while man-of-the-final Prem Tamang got Rs 5,000.

Meanwhile, Binod Lama of Baitadi was adjudged the best bowler of the tournament. Lama had taken 12 wickets in the three group stage matches.

Birgunj’s Hasim Ansari was adjudged the player-of-the-series and the best batsman of the tournament. Ansari had scored altogether 176 runs in the four matches with an average of 44 and strike rate of 118.12. He had also taken six wickets in four matches bowling altogether 39 overs. Ansari received Rs 15, 000.

National Sports Council Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama, tournament sponsor Wai Wai’s representative Lal Babu Prasad and CAN officials gave away the prizes to the winners.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced a 14-member team on Wednesday for the ACC U-16 Elite Cup to be held in Malaysia from May 4 to 13.

The CAN picked the final 14 out of 19 players in the closed camp training for the tournament.

Deependra Chand is the captain of the Nepali U-16 team, which includes Aadil Khan, Kali Charan Yadav, Shashi Bhusan Mishra, Nurdhwaj Sen, Jagadish Chand and Akash Bista. Likewise, Rabin Gupta, Aasif Sekh, Kushal Bhurtel, Rupesh Banstola, Mukunda Yadav, Alfaj Mansoori and Anup Neupane are other members of the team.

Nitesh Thakur, Lokesh Jha, Ajay Sahani and Heman Rai are considered as reserve players.

Manjur Alam Khan is the coach of the U-16 team.

Region No 6 Baitadi fixed the title clash with Region No 2 Birgunj in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament on Thursday.

Baitadi defeated defending champion Region No 4 Bhairahawa by two wickets in the last league match on Tuesday to fix the final spot. Net run rate came into count as Bhairahawa, Baitadi and Janakpur had equal four points from three matches.

In the match played at TU Ground, Kirtipur, Baitadi invited Bhairahawa to bat first and restricted them in just 83 runs off 30 overs. Binod Lama grabbed five wickets in nine overs conceding nine runs. Yagya Man Kumal and Dipendra Airee grabbed two wickets each.

Sabin Ratna Shakya was the highest scorer for Bhairahawa with 15 runs off 22 balls. Krishna Sen (11) was another batsman to reach double figure score. Bhairahawa received 25 runs as extras.

Baitadi successfully chased the target of 84 runs in 27.2 overs losing eight wickets. Santosh Bhatta scored 24 runs off 38 balls with two boundaries. Binod Lama was not out on 15 runs off 31 balls with three boundaries.

Iklakh Ahmed Warsi took four wickets for Bhairahawa but could not guide the team for the final. Devendra Somare, Sushan Bhari and Bivek Chaudhary shared a wicket each.

In the match played at Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk, Region No 7 Janakpur registered 66 runs victory over Region No 5 Nepalgunj. Winning the toss Janakpur scored 155 runs losing all the wickets in 31.3 overs.

Abishek Jha scored unbeaten 32 runs off 54 balls with a boundary. Rahul Pratap Singh scored 26 runs off 29 balls that included two boundaries.

Amar Singh Rautela grabbed four wickets for Nepalgunj while Afak Sjeikh took two wickets. Nepalgunj bowlers gave away 20 runs as extras.

Chasing the target of 156 runs, Nepalgunj were bowled out on 89 runs off 23.5 overs. Mukesh Jha’s five wickets haul helped Janakpur restrict Nepalgunj. Sameer Nepal took two wickets while Gopal Singh, Pradeep Sapkota and Abhisek Jha shared a wicket each.

Prajwol Shahi scored 29 runs off 39 balls with two boundaries and Afak Sheikh scored 21 runs off 23 balls with four boundaries.