Nepal, Qatar, Malaysia and Kuwait each registered a huge win on the first day of the ACC U-19 Cup.
NEPAL v BAHRAIN, Group A
Man of the match Amrit Bhattarai receives the award.
Left-arm seamer Amrit Bhattarai took four wickets while Gyanendra Malla scored unbeaten 32 as Nepal beat Bahrain on the opening day of the ACC U-19 Cup cricket tournament by 8 wickets before lunch at the TU Cricket Ground.
In other matches, Kuwait surprised Afghanistan at Tundikhel, Malaysia made merry of Hong Kong at Bhaktapur and Qatar defeated Singapore at Pulchowk.
Bahrain were all out for 67 in 28.5 overs. Nepal reached the target in 11.1 overs losing two wickets.
Amrit shattered Bahrain with the deadly spell after the visitors chose to bat first. Despite struggling with his line, Amrit began by castling Zarak Ahmed’s stumps in the second over and added three more.
He bowled 10 overs for four wickets, gave away 38 runs, including 11 wides, and was substituted. He was also declared man of the match by match referee Roquibul Hasan.
Vice-captain Paras Khadka continued Amrit’s good work by claiming three wickets as Nepali fielders ran out two batsmen to help bowlers. Spinner Raj Shrestha took one.
For Bahrain, only Karan Kumar and Atif Ashfaq reached the double figure. Karan scored 17 in 46 balls with two fours while Atif got 16 off 40 with two boundaries.
Gayan DeSilva gave an early threat to Nepali side taking two wickets in his first two overs. Captain Kaniska Chaugai and experienced Yashwant Subedi both played wrong shots and were caught. They scored two each.
But then after, it was Gyanendra Malla, the U-15 vice-captain and Sarad Vesawkar who gave a treat to the sizable crowd. Gyanendra hit five fours for his 32 off 28 balls and Sarad made 19 off 26 deliveries.
MALAYSIA v HONG KONG, Group D
Malaysia proved Hong Kong is no match to them in any department of the game as they thrashed the young side by 178 runs at the newly built turf at Birendra Sainik Awasiya Mahavidhyalaya in Bhaktapur.
Malaysia scored 242/8 and bowled out Hong Kong for 64.
For Malaysia, captain Suhan Kumar and Md Arifin Ramly both scored half-centuries. Suhan got 51 off 60 balls before losing out while Ramly was unbeaten till the end at 66 of 89 deliveries. Ezrafiq Aziz and Manrick Singh both contributed with 21 runs each.
Irfan Ahmed was the only Hong Kong bowler who could restrict Malaysians. He took three wickets in his 10 overs spell that cost him 33 runs.
Malaysian bowler then bowled such a tight line that Hong Kong side, coached by Sri Lankan Lal Jayasinghe, could never felt confident playing shots. Four of Hong Kong batsmen were out for zero while the only batsman to reach double figure was Gary Brirly. Gary scored 31 off 43 balls hitting three fours.
Opening bowler Md Kasman claimed four wickets giving away 24 runs while Manrick Singh and Sarath Sivan grabbed two wickets each.
AFGHANISTAN v KUWAIT, Group B
It was the story of Mubasher Khalid’s excellent batting rather than a cricket match. Mubasher, ‘who wasn’t fit enough to field’, came at the crease while Kuwait was 63/2 – still requiring 138 runs to register win against Afghanistan and made it the easiest job.
Chasing Afghanistan’s 200, Kuwait completed the target in 34.3 overs losing only three wickets.
Mubasher scored unbeaten 77 off 63 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes at Tundikhel – the venue that always has hundreds of spectators for cricket. The super-sub was all at ease and never toiled hard for any runs. He even overshadowed Sibatain Raza’s performance.
Raza scored 60 runs off 79 balls with 9 fours and partnered Mubasher for 135 runs. For Afghanistan Mohammed Asghar Hotak took two wickets.
Earlier, riding on Abdul Basir Walizada’s 55 and Hotak’s 39, Afghanistan had scored 200 runs in 47.4 overs. No 7 Walizada played 91 for his half-century and partnered 99 runs with Hotak for seventh wicket after they were reduced to 81/6.
Opener Sajad Khan scored 29 while Murad Ali got 22. For Kuwait, Ali Shezad took four wickets while Abdul Rehman Mani claimed two.
QATAR v SINGAPORE, Group C
Singapore squandered early bowling performance by letting tailenders score runs at ease and lost to Qatar by 113 runs at the Institute of Engineering Ground, Pulchowk.
Qatar scored 251/9 in 50 overs and bowled out Singapore for 138 runs in 48 overs.
Singapore reduced Qatar to 99/7 but then after a 140-run partnership between Hasan Ali and Zahiruddin Ibrahim uplifted the Gulf team. Man of the match Hasan hit five boundaries and a six for his 67 off 77 balls while Zahiruddin made 51 off 58 deliveries with four fours and two sixes.
Singapore’s Jayath Ganapathi took five wickets in his 10 over spell giving away 38 runs to give hopes for his team but after his spell, Qatar rose high. Singapore also gave away 44 runs.
Rohan Tripathi (29), Peter Murali (28) and Crihstopher Janik (17) tried a little to give some threatening moments to Qatar but it was the other which tightened screws. Tamoor Sajjad took four while Qamar Sadiq got three in his four over spell.
All Photos: Bikash Karki/NepalCricket.com