Two experienced players - captain Paras Khadka and Gyanendra Malla - produced brilliant performances on Thursday but that was not enough to beat Zimbabwe in the second warm-up match of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup at Royal Military Ground, Kuala Lumpur.

Helped by Gyanendra’s 85 off 83 deliveries, Nepal accumulated 203/8 in allotted 50 overs. Zimbabwe chased target with 15 balls and three wickets remaining despite Paras’ 4-wicket haul.

Nepal won the toss and elected to bat first. Mahesh Chhetri and Anil Mandal batted cautiously adding less than three runs an over. Mahesh (10) got out in 14th over and Anil (13) fell in the 17th with Nepal at 43/2.

Paras and Gyanendra, who had a century partnership against Bermuda on Tuesday, once again stablized the innings with 67-run partnership. Paras (24) fell first and Akash Gutpa (5) followed. Gyanendra, who hit 14 boundaries in his innings, added 53-run partnership with Rom Shrestha. All of them were out caught behind by J Gaisford.

Rom (22), Sagar Khadka (9) and Rahul Biswokarma (12) ensured Nepal reach past 200. P. Masvaure was the most successful Zimbabwe bowler taking 3/32.

In reply, Paras took two wickets as Zimbabwe went down to 26/2 in the 10th. Zimbabwe then batted sensibly stabilizing innings with partnerships as Nepali bowlers struggled to succeed.

It was T Chimbambo who scored run-a-ball 49, P Masvaure (33) and opener Dinembira (37) who brought win for Nepal. Apart from Paras’ 4/34, Chandra Sawad and Sagar Khadka each took a wicket.

Nepal now heads to Penang where it meets Sri Lanka in the first league match of the main event on February 18. In other warm-up matches of the day, West Indies beat Australia by five wickets, Sri Lanka edged South Africa by 23 runs and Namibia defeated Bermuda by 102 runs.

Scorecard
Nepal U-19 Innings
M.Chhetri c J.Gaisford b P.Masvaure 13 (42)
A.Mandal c J.Gaisford b S.Mire 10 (47)
G.Malla c J.Gaisford b P.Masvaure 85 (83)
P.Khadka c J.Gaisford b T.Chitongo 24 (42)
A.Gupta c J.Gaisford b S.Matsika 5 (8)
R.Shrestha run out (P.Masvaure) 22 (41)
S.Khadka not out 9 (21)
P.Thapa c J.Gaisford b P.Masvaure 0 (1)
R.Vishwakarma run out (S.Mire) 12 (14)
C.Sawad not out 2 (2)
Extras (lb4, w16 nb1) 21
Total (for 8 wkts in 50 overs) 203

FoW: 28, 43, 110, 122, 175, 180, 180, 200

Zimbabwe Bowling: N.Ncube 6-1-14-0, K.Jarvis 8-1-19-0, P.Masvaure 10-3-32-3, S.Mire 7-1-36-1, C.Mutombodzi 5-0-29-0, T.Chitongo 10-0-46-1, S.Matsika 4-0-23-1

Zimbabwe U-19 Innings
H.Dinembira retired hurt 37 (98)
T.Mashonganyika c C.Sawad b P.Khadka 7(13)
P.Moor c S.Khadka b P.Khadka 4 (16)
J.Gaisford c R.Vishwakarma b C.Sawad 8 (20)
P.Masvaure c P.Khadka b S.Khadka 33 (46)
T.Chimbambo not out 49 (49)
D.Landman c R.Shrestha b P.Khadka 16 (19)
S.Mire c R.Vishwakarma b P.Khadka 17 (14)
S.Matsika run out (R.Vishwakarma) 5 (7)
T.Chitongo not out 13 (9)
Extras (b4 lb6 w7) 17
Total (for 7 wkts in 48.3 overs) 206

FoW: 16, 26, 42, 89, 133, 151, 173

Nepal Bowling: A.Bhattarai 8-1-33-0, P.Khadka 9.3-2-34-4, C.Sawad 6-0-32-1, A.Rana 3-0-10-0, S.Khadka 8-1-32-1, R.Vishwakarma 10-1-34-0, R.Shrestha 4-0-22-0