Nepal defeat M’sia to earn maiden ACC U-19 semi-final ticket
KLANG: Nepal just needed less than two hours to defeat host Malaysia by eight wickets in the 2017 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19 Youth Asia Cup at the Bayuemas Oval here yesterday and secure a semi-final berth.
In the Group A match which was delayed for about five hours due to rain and forcing the match to be reduced to 24 Overs from 50, Malaysia took charge of batting to only score 45 runs before losing all the wickets in 15.3 Overs, no thanks to Nepalese bowler Sandeep Lamichhane for claiming five wickets.
Opening batsman, Anil Kumar Sah hit three six, a four and a single to help Nepal reach 48 runs to secure two valuable points and confirm their place in the semi-finals, after having upset defending champions India at the same venue on Sunday.
It was the third defeat for Malaysia who had suffered two previous heavy defeats (202 runs to India) in the opening match on Friday and (262 runs) to Bangladesh on Monday.
Malaysia has now lost all 12 matches played in the tournament since the inaugural edition in 2012.
“Nepal have 3 world class spinners, we were struggling to get runs and cannot read their spins, but stayed positive. Throughout the tournament, we had lots of challenges in the team and playing at the wrong time of year, as we lost about 11 players due to the SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) exam.
“So couldn’t field a good team, nevertheless a very good experience for the boys below 16-years. Captain Virandeep Singh again showed he is in a different class with his skills in both bowling and batting,” Malaysia head coach Suresh Navaratnam told Bernama.
Nepal coach Binod Kumar Das, who was delighted with the maiden semi-final ticket for the non-test playing country in the tournament, wants his side to keep improving for a better finish in the tournament.
“Our spinners came and bowled brilliantly to claim 10 wickets today. We made ourselves proud after playing our potential and challenged other teams here. We have beaten Malaysia and India for a first time, and came close to beating Bangladesh,” he said.