KATHMANDU, JULY 17
In the ongoing ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, Nepal has been eliminated from the group stage. In the second match of the group, Nepal was eliminated before the final match after losing by 9 wickets to India's 'A' team on Monday.
India completed the target of 168 runs given by Nepal with the loss of 1 wicket in 22.1 overs. Sai Sudarshan scored 58 not out, and Dhruv Jurel added 21 not out for India. Similarly, Abhishek Sharma contributed 87 runs before being dismissed by Rohit Paudel, hitting 12 fours and 2 sixes off 69 balls.
Before that, Nepal, who won the toss and batted first at Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, were bowled out for 167 runs in 39.2 overs. Despite a poor start, captain Rohit Kumar Paudel scored a half-century, adding 65 runs before being caught off Nishant Sindhu. He hit 7 fours in 85 balls.
Rohit shared 53 runs with Sompal Kami for the sixth wicket and 54 runs with Gulsan Jha for the seventh wicket for Nepal, who lost 5 wickets after adding 37 runs in 10 overs. Sompal was dismissed for 14 runs. Gulsan scored 38 runs off 30 balls with 2 fours and a six, making a significant contribution.
Opener Kushal Bhurtel was dismissed for a duck, caught lbw by India's Harshit Rana in the second ball. Another opener, Asif, was caught behind the wicket by Rajvardhan for 7 runs. Dev Khanal scored 15 runs and was caught by Riyan Parag off Rajvardhan's ball. Bhim Sarki was bowled by Harshit Rana for 4 runs in 8.5 overs. Kushal Malla was caught by Abhishek Sharma off Rajvardhan at zero. Pawan Sarraf added 6 runs.
India's Nishant Sindhu took 4 wickets in bowling, conceding 14 runs in 3.2 overs. Rajvardhan took 3 wickets, while Harshit Rana took 2 wickets.
Earlier, Nepal suffered a 4-wicket loss against Pakistan's 'A' team in their first match. Pakistan defeated UAE in the second match today. After winning two consecutive matches, India and Pakistan reached the semi-finals, while Nepal and UAE were eliminated.
Now Nepal will play against the 'A' team of UAE on July 1 in the final match of the tournament. Apart from Nepal, senior teams from other countries have not participated in the tournament. Teams other than Nepal have participated in the competition by forming 'A' teams, including young players.
Nepal has taken the tournament organized by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) as preparation for the Asia Cup, with the aim of giving exposure to the associate teams of Asia. The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Pakistan and Sri Lanka in September. Nepal is scheduled to compete with India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup. The top two teams from the two groups will advance to the semi-finals. The final of the competition will be held on July 23.
