KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 19
Nepal thrashed Saudi Arabia by a huge margin of 302 runs and advanced to the semi-finals of the ACC Men's U-19 Premier Cup at the YSD- UKM Oval in Bangi, Malaysia today.
Batting first, Nepal posted a massive 348-8 in their allotted 50 overs riding on a record century from Arjun Kumal, while Dipesh Kandel bagged second consecutive five-wicket haul to pack Saudi Arabia for a paltry 46 runs in 19.1 overs.
Kumal - the first Nepali U-19 opener to score two centuries - registered alltime highest score across all formats of the game. Kumal hit 17 fours and two sixes in his 111-ball 143 and became the highest scorer for Nepal, beating the record of unbeaten 137 runs - that came off 50 balls - scored by Kushal Malla against Mongolia in the Asian Games earlier this month.
Malla holds the world record of fastest T20 International century after he reached the triple figures off just 37 balls in the match.
Invited to take first strike, Nepal openers Deepak Bohara and Kumal put up 71 runs inside 12 overs. After the fall of Bohara (29) in the fifth ball of the 12th over, Kumal and Akash Tripathi added 190 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for a big total. Kumal was dismissed in the third ball of the 39th over, while skipper Dev Khanal fell for a duck two balls later.
Aakash Tripathi scored 89 off 98 balls that included six boundaries and two sixes, while Bishal Bikram KC remained unbeaten on 8-ball 24 with the help of three fours. Dipak Prasad Dumre and Dipesh Kandel scored 14 each. Muhammad Ahmad Raza, Muhammad Ghayour Ahmad and Abdullah Shiraz took two wickets each for Saudi Arabia, while Zuhair Muhammad and Shazeeb Mujeebur Rahman bagged one apiece.
In reply, Varun Saravanan Mudaliar was the lone Saudi Arabia batter to score in double figures. Spinner Kandel was the chief destroyer as he returned with 6-18 from 9.1 overs, while Akash Chand grabbed two and Subash Bhandari claimed one. With his second straight six-for Kandel took the tournament total to 15 scalps in three matches. He had bagged 6-4 from 9.4 overs against Bahrain and claimed 3-4 from seven overs in the tournament opener against Iran.
With their third straight victory, Nepal made it to the semis as Group A winners and they will face Group D toppers for a place in final.
Japan are at the top of Group D with four points from two matches, while Hong Kong and Malaysia have two each.
Top three teams of the tournament will earn berths in the U-19 Asia Cup to be held later this year in Pakistan.
A version of this article appears in the print on October 20, 2023, of The Himalayan Times
