Kathmandu, November 15:

Group A leaders Nepal take on Group C runner-up Singapore in the quarter-final of the ACC Under-19 Cup cricket tournament here at TU Stadium on Wednesday. Nepal, who topped three-team group, is trying to become the first nation to complete a hat-trick. Binod Das, currently the national team skipper, led Nepal to victory in the third edition in Kathmandu in 2001, while Shakti Gauchan was the skipper when Nepal won the trophy in Karachi in 2003.

Nepal coach Roy Luke Dias was of the view that he has got a good team this time too. “I have a good side, but I don’t say we will have an easy win over Singapore, as I don’t know much about them,” he said. Asked about the starting line-up, Dias said that he would prefer the first-match squad that beat Bahrain. Abhaya Rana and Prem Chaudhary were dropped with Basanta Regmi being the Super-sub in that match.

“We have not finalised the team yet, but I will have to go with a stronger side,” he said. “I could have tried the players in the league-round matches, but unluckily we were drawn in the three-team pool and I was compelled to go with strong teams in the previous matches,” he added. “We have not played for the last six days and I cannot try out things in a knock-out match,” he said. To help the batsmen during the six-day period, Dias had called senior players during practice. “I called Binod Das and Sujin Adhikari to help the batsmen as well the bowlers,” he said. “I also did not wanted my bowlers to get tired or hurt by bowling more deliveries,” he added. Skipper Kanishka Chaugain was also confident of winning the match.

“We have beaten them in our earlier meetings, so I think we are the favourites.”. Other quarter-finals pit Kuwait vs Hong Kong at Tundikhel; Qatar vs Bahrain at Institute of Engineering; and Malaysia vs UAE at Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidyalaya.