A brilliant all-round performance by Nischal Pandey earned Nepal a second victory in the ACC U-16 Elite Cup.
Nischal collected his second man of the match award for scoring 58 runs and taking five wickets as Nepal beat Kuwait by 101 runs at the TU Ground. Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong also earned victory on the second day of the event.
Nischal shone with the bat after Kuwait invited Nepal to bat first. As an opener, he shared a brisk 70-run partnership with Sharad Khadka, who got 33 off 58 balls.
The left-handed batsman was out in 32nd over after scoring 58 off 82 balls with six fours. When he was out, Nepal was 137/6 with other top-order batsmen failing to excel.
It was Satish Bhagat’s unbeaten 29 off 44 balls and a couple of 12-run contribution from No 3 Dipendra Chanda and No 8 Hari Chaulagain that took Nepal to a total of 183 in 40 overs. Satish also partnered last man Rajiv Chaudhary (9) for a 20-run last wicket partnership.
For Kuwait, Naser Rashid and Ali Zaheer took three wickets each while Abdul Jabar grabbed two.
Kuwait’s reply began good with openers Zakaria Liaqat Ali (20 off 31) and Naser (12) adding 37 but introduction of Nischal changed the game for them.
Nischal bowled Ali and found edge of Jabar in an over to put them on backfoot at 37/2 in 9 overs. He then took three wickets in four balls of his last over to finish 5/15 and wreak Kuwait to 71/6 in 21 overs with Bibek Chaudhary picking up a wicket.
Bibek grabbed two more while Rajiv Shah and Sushan Bhari Shrestha took a wicket each to conclude Kuwaiti innings at 82 in 25 overs. Ali Zaher topscored for Kuwait hitting 27 runs off 37 balls.
Nischal double – half-century and five-for – was the first of its kind in any level for a Nepali player.
Hong Kong romps over Bahrain
Miten Rajesh Khatri played a captain’s knock as Hong Kong registered a thumping 113-run victory over Bahrain at the BSAM Ground.
With Khatri’s 59, Hong Kong posted 211/9 in 40 overs and bowled out Bahrain, who registered a win yesterday, for 98 to even on points for second place in Group B behind Nepal.
Khatri’s run-a-ball knock was supported by Ibrahim Ishaq (37 off 60 balls) and Madhav Menon (34 off 60) along with 41 extras bowled by Bahrain bowlers.
Nikhil Ajit Bolar (3/21) was the pick of the bowlers while Lalith Lal took two wickets.
Bahrain started with disaster losing both openers in two overs and never recovered from the shock. Bolar (17) and Sameer Fayyaz (21) tried recovery with 40-run partnership but they were not on par with the required run-rate.
Kinchit Shah was the man destroyer with 4/17 to take his event tally to seven wickets while Toby James Methy took 2/20 as Bahrain’s hopes ended in 27 overs.
Saudi Arabia beats Thailand
The biggest victory of the day was earned by Saudi Arabia who beats Thailand by 159 runs at the IOE Ground.
Saudi Arabia’s captain Mohd Abdulla scored 70 as they raced to 233 in 36.4 overs after choosing to bat first. Man of the match Faheem Afrad got 6/10 in next innings as Thailand was bowled out for 74 in 20.4 overs.
After losing two early wickets, Abdulla made an entry and dominated the proceedings. He added 116 runs with opener Ushman Khalid Quddasi (29). His 70 was scored 67 balls with 14 fours. They were out in space of three balls, bowled by Kushal Shah leaving Saudi at 143/4.
Salman Saleem (36), Abdul Rafie Mirza Baig (20) and Salman Usman Patel (16) took them past 200-mark. Shah was the most successful bowler for Thailand taking 4/45 while Siddhant Anand grabbed two wickets.
Thailand innings best two partnerships were at two ends of the table – 21 opening and 28 last wicket. No 8 Anand topscored with 21. But it was the innings of a bowler – Afrad who got six wickets.
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Great Nischal… i think u are the one major member of future team of Nepal.always focus on ur performance and try to sharpen it…cuz u may be the lucky guy to play world cup in coming years from nepali side…so prepare for future….all the best..left arm spinner…and all nepalese players mind it..u all are supposed to play wid great names…
Try yr best against Nepal…. u guys deserve to be in semis ….
Well done nischal ! Congrats ! It is the time you shud focus on your work concentrating and sharpening your skill n talent, I’m sure you guys can rise in future like never before any nepalese does, so keep up hard work spontaneously ! Good luck ! You could be the best allrounder in the world ! Dont dream now but please put on hard work from today, though late you’ll get the best of fruits for sure !
Nischal, you seem to be one good player. An opener and left arm spinner….. A half century and 5 wicket and 4 wicket haul in two match…. thats really promising. But remember, you have just played at home ground and slow wickets, the outer world is tougher than that.
Concentrate on your game rather than the fame that will come your way, coz if your dont play well, the fame will fade. There are so many example of such in national and international circuit. And, one ore thing you have to keep doing what you are doing coz there are many established guys in U-19 and senior side, if you have already started dreaming of breaking into those side.
BEST OF LUCK, the future is in your hand. Success does not comes without CONSTANT hard work.
hi u hav done well for country.i will pray for god that u will perform good in coming days too.Hope u will be able to break the the record of sachion too.u will u be increasing the fame of our lovely shivghat and we ur frns will always be poud of u
thats the way boyz. deliver ur best .the future is certainly urs