Hard work paid off: Coach Das
Kathmandu, November 12
Nepal youth cricket team head coach Binod Das said the victory against mighty India was the outcome of the hard work of the players.
Nepal recorded a 19-run victory against Test-playing heavyweights India in the Group A match of the ACC U-19 Youth Asian Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today. The victory was Nepal’s first ever win against India at any level. Batting first Nepal scored 185-8 before packing three-time champions India to 166 in 48.1 overs.
Coach Binod Das lauded his boys’ performance. “This is a historic victory for us and all credits go to the team members for their hard work and belief they put in,” said the former national team skipper. “The game was competitive from the word go and having played here before,
we knew the conditions will change with time,” he said Das. He also said his side prepared for the match without rating the teams.
Das, who guided the team to victory against Bangladesh youth team in the final game of the three-match friendly series in Dhaka before flying to Malaysia, praised skipper Dipendra Singh Airee’s performance. “Dipendra had one of the best all-round performances we have seen so far. He led with the bat and delivered with the ball too,” he said. Airee top scored with 88 runs and was also the pick of the Nepali bowlers taking 4-39 from 10 overs.
Previously Nepal had lost all five encounters against India in the youth level — twice in ICC U-19 World Cup and thrice in ACC U-19 Youth Asia Cup. Nepal had faced an eight-wicket defeat in Super League Round of the 2000 World Cup and went down by seven wickets during the group stage match in 2016. In Asia Cup group stage, India defeated Nepal by 81 runs in 2012, registered a nine-wicket victory in 2013 and recorded a six-wicket victory in 2016.
However, the victory of Nepal youth team against Test playing nation was not the first time. Earlier, Nepal had defeated Pakistan by 30 runs and Bangladesh by 23 runs in 2002 U-19 WC. Also, they had outplayed South Africa by one wicket in 2004 WC and by two runs in 2006. In 2006 youth World Cup, Nepal defeated New Zealand by one wicket to win the plate championship trophy.
Similarly, they had thrashed Zimbabwe by 99 runs in 2008 WC before beating Kiwis by 32 runs in 2016 WC. Recently, Nepal defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in a friendly match.
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