DAY I: Victories for Nepal, Afghanistan, UAE and Hong Kong

Experienced cricketers emerged heroes for two-time defending champions Nepal in the 25 run victory over Malaysia in the inaugural match of the ACC U-15 Elite Cup 2007 as Afghanistan, Hong Kong and UAE also registered victories on Sunday.

Nepal vs Malaysia

At TU Cricket Ground, Malaysian captain Keithan Goonasagaran won the toss and invited Nepal to bat first. Helped by Akash Pariyar’s 48 and captain Prithu Baskota’s 38, Nepal reached 178/7 in allotted 40 overs. Bivek Dali spun three wickets as Malaysia were bowled out for 153 in 39.4 overs.

Akash and Prithu partnered 86 runs for second wicket at Sagar Pun (8) edged a Mohd Ramdin Samsudin delivery to wicket-keeper Zubair Asyraff in the sixth over. Their partnership lasted 20 overs and gave Nepal a platform for a formidable score.

They were out in space of nine balls – Prithu went first stumped off Ahmad Zahid Adnan on 38 off 71 balls and Akash made his way out two runs short of half-century. Adnan added three more as Nepal slumped to 152/7 before Sunil Sunar (13*) and Krishna Sen (12*) got a few runs. In between, Pradeep Airee showed his batting power with 27 off 31 deliveries with four fours.

Man of the match Adnan spearheaded Malaysian attack with five wickets, although he was little expensive giving away 39 runs off eight overs, while Samsudin took one.

Malaysia had the start they had wanted with openers Asyraff and Faizhal Niazlyn adding 65 in 18 overs before Asyraff fell short of his crease. He scored 38 runs of 62 balls. Three more wickets followed soon while Niazlyn got injured while running and limped out of the field. Spinner Bivek was the man behind it taking two wickets and bowling very efficiently.

From 87/4 in 25.1 overs, it was not going to be easy for Malaysia to get more than six runs per over for 15 overs against Nepali bowling attack. After five odd overs, the guests were 96/6 and the run rate was asking for Everest overs.

The second mention-worthy partnership of Malaysian innings was seventh between Mohd Norhaizan and Pavithren Nabaesan that yielded 31 runs in five overs. Norhaizan got out scoring 32 off 46 that included two fours and the lone six of the match. No 9 Mohd Rahim hit three boundaries for 18 in 15 balls and Niazlyn returned to add four more to make his score 24* but they failed to take Malaysia to the required runs.

Saudi Arabia vs Afghanistan

Afghanistan outplayed Saudi Arabia for a nine-wicket victory at Birendra Sainik School Ground in the match that finished long before the lunch.

Winning toss, Saudis decided to bat first but were soon in trouble as the opening pacers got into attack. Man of the match Hijrat (7-2-20-4, with 12 wides) and Afzal Khan (7-1-21-3, with 6 wides) wrecked Saudi innings putting them at 37/7 in no time.

Farhan Kazi (11) and Bilal Shah (16), the only two batsmen to score in two figures, partnered 29 runs for eighth wicket to take Saudis past 50. Abdullah Said took two as Saudis got out in 66 runs in 19.3 overs with 25 runs coming as extras.

Afghanistan were in no mood to waste too much time and got home in 6.3 overs. Md Anwar scored run-a-ball 21 before getting out while Hasmat Ullah (14) and Nazib Ullah (12 off 5 balls) remained unbeaten.

Singapore vs UAE

Mohamad Yusuf and Aqib Malik scored half-centuries as UAE defeated Singapore by 6 wickets at the Institute of Engineering Ground.

Yusuf got 51 off 91 balls and Malik scored 58 off 63 balls as UAE chased Singapore’s total of 154 with four overs in spare. Yusuf hit six boundaries and Malik eight and they partnered 80 runs for second wicket after Abhijit Shanker got out for 13. Don Zeol Muthukuda (10) and Sohib Nasir (13) remained unbeaten.

Earlier, Singapore won the toss and elected to bat first. They were trouble in first over as Malik bowled Ishan Shekhar in the second ball. Though a few batsmen contributed runs for them, there were not nay serious partnership. No 10 Divesh Dadlani (26*), Varun Shivaram (26), Prasheen Param (25) and Reza Gaznani (21) scored a few whereas UAE gave away 48 extras.

Shoaib was the most successful bowler with 3/9 in 8 overs while ZubinSharukh Ghyara claimed two.

Oman vs Hong Kong

The batting show of the day was seen at the newly constructed Lab School Ground where Hong Kong prevailed in the high scoring match to register a six-wicket victory over Oman.

Invited to bat first, Oman scored 221/5 in 40 overs – thanks to brilliant innings by Gaurav Vinayak Honavar and Nikhil Kurivilla Xavier. Honavar scored unbeaten 81 off 116 balls with 10 fours to rescue his team from 22/3 and 47/4.

He partnered 48 with Pandya Karan Prashanth, who was run out after getting 22 off 31 balls and unbeaten 126 with Xavier. The No 7 was on fire scoring 49 off 41 balls with six fours. Niaz Ali was the only bowler to earn some respect as he returned with a figure of 8-3-27-3.

Better than Honavar’s innings was that of Nizakat Khan who remained unbeaten on 85 off 102 balls with 10 fours and two sixes and took Hong Kong to victory with 17 balls remaining.

Hong Kong was in trouble at 16/2, credit to Prashanth’s 2/57, but Nizakat and Niaz Ali added 73 runs for third wicket to rescue the team. Niaz got 34 before giving a return catch to Saud Khan. Jason Lui got 45 off 22 balls with five fours and four sixes in his fiery innings and 47-run partnership.

Captain Mark Chapman remained unbeaten on 27 off 36 balls and took his team to victory with man of the match Nizakat.

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