KATHMANDU: Nepal's dream of qualifying to the ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand fell short after the team falter to Afghanistan in their last match of the ICC Asia Qualifier in Singapore on Tuesday.

Nepal were beaten comprehensively by Afghanistan in the crucial fixture by 96 runs, played at the Indian Association Ground in Singapore.

In today's play, Afghanistan opted to bat first in a sunny day, posted a decent total of 195 in 46 over of their allotted 50 overs.

Afghanistan's opening batsman Ibrahim Zadran blitz knock of 101 runs featured 7 fours and 5 sixes in his aggressive innings. Nepal's bowlers bowled out Afghanistan inside 200 runs but it was a tall order for a fragile Nepali batting.

They succumbed under the pressure of achieving the target quickly and petered out for a paltry score of 99 in 41 overs.

Earlier, Nepal had suffered a humiliating defeat to Afghanistan by 141 runs in the earlier round match.

Nepal's wait for participating in the ICC U-19 World Cup continued as the team again failed to overcome the major obstacle of Afghanistan in the ICC events.

Nepal defeated other nations including the hosts, Singapore and Malaysia but were completely outplayed by Afghanistan side in both the occasions.

Afghanistan were too strong for the Nepali side in all department of the game, specially, Nepal's batting looked ordinary against the table topper.

Nepal's coach Binod Das echoed on team's bowling and fielding laurels rather then emphasing on improving disarray batting, before today's play. If Nepal are to make inroad into the ICC events in the future, they need to resurrect their batting in time.

Skipper Sandeep Lamichanne who claimed 24 wickets including three 5 wickets haul in six innings was awarded with man of the series.

With today's win Afghanistan have qualified for the ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand next year.

Nepal were second best to the table topper with 8 points in 4 team group, Malaysia languished on the bottom of the table.

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