Kathmandu, July 13

Nepal U-19 cricket team faced a 68-run defeat against Noida-XI in their friendly match at the Shaheed Vijay Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida, India today.

Batting first, the home side posted 234-8 in their allotted 50 overs before the Nepali team was bundled out for 166 run with eight overs to spare. Nepal, who are in India to prepare for the ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifiers for Asia Region, had won the first three practice matches.

Noida’s innings revolved around a century from opener Tanmay Srivastava. The former India Under-19 player, Srivastava scored an unbeaten 120 off 149 balls.

Another opener Raahul Yadav scored 22-ball 33 hitting five fours and a six, while Anureet Singh struck two boundaries in his 42-ball 28. Nimit Saini (17) and Sparsh Joshi (13) also scored in double figures for Noida. Kishor Mahato and Pawan Sarraf took two wickets each for the Nepali team, while Rohit Kumar Poudel, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Shahab Alam claimed one apiece.

In reply, Nepal U-19 team lost two quick wickets of opener Aasif Sheikh (10) and Pranit Thapa Magat (four) in the space of five runs to be 29-2 inside five overs. Opener Sandeep Sunar and Dipendra Singh Airee steadied the innings with a 63-run partnership for the third wicket before the former was dismissed. Sunar scored 36 off 58 balls hitting four boundaries and six.

After Anil Kumar Shah (eight) returned to the pavilion, Airee and Prakash KC added 39 runs for the fifth wicket. Airee top scored for the visitors with 55 off 68 balls that included two each fours and sixes.

Anureet Singh, Nimit Saini and Harshit Sethi took two wickets each for Noida, while Ravi Singh, Gaurav Singh, Depanshu Yadav and Parwinder Awana claimed one apiece.