Avinash Karn dismantled underdog Bahrain’s chase getting 8 wickets which included a hat-trick, to give Nepal its third victory and early ticket to semi-final of the ACC U19 Elite Cup 2013, being held in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
Earlier winning the toss and batting first Nepal posted 259 runs losing 9 wickets. Captain Bhuwan Karki lead from the front with 83 runs of 63 balls to take Nepal to 259/9 in 50 overs. Avinash magical spell then restricted minnows Bahrain to 63 runs giving Nepal 196 run victory
Nepal like the other two matches had a hurried start scoring 28 runs in 3 overs thanks to quick 22 from Amit Shrestha in just 10 balls. Amit fell for 22 in the first ball of 4th over caught by Mubasher Zahoor off Awad Khan. Amit had been starring with the bat for Nepal in last two matches top scoring with 46 and 70* Qatar.
Cameos from Harishankar Shah(10) and Nischal Pandey(16) took Nepal to 69/3 in 13 overs. Bhibhatsu Thapa and Nirmal Thapa then added 43 runs for the fourth wicket.
Bhibhatsu and Nirmal started really slow getting less than 1 runs per over in the first 10 overs of the partnership. They added 34 more runs less than a run a ball after that in the 43 run partnership that lasted 15.4 overs. Nirmal Thapa got out just when both batsmen were just starting get into their comfort zones.
Bhuwan Karki then joined Bhibhatsu in the middle and the pair added 68 runs, Bhibhatsu eventually got out scoring 44 runs-Nepal then 170-5. Bhuwan was then batting at 33. Nirmal’s wicket didn’t stop Bhuwan from scoring, in fact as the wickets tumbled at the other end he got 50 more runs to his name as Nepal added 89 runs in the final 10 overs posting 259 losing 9 wickets.
Lalit Lal picked up three wickets for Bahrain.
Coming into the game facing two embarrassing losses against Malaysia and Kuwait 260 was certain to be Everest of a climb for Bahrain. Bharain started steady for the first two overs getting 9 runs on the board.
Karn got the first breakthrough for Nepal in the getting opener Ikram Nadeem for 1 runs. Other opener Nasir Adeem fell 1 runs later in ther fourth ball of the same over. Karn then got Anandakrishan and Ubaid in the fifth and sixth ball of the overs to complete a Hat-trick extremely rare fate in any form of the game.
Karki provided the next wicket for Nepal, dismissing Sameer for 3 at Bahrain score of 12. Karn bagged two more wickets in the over that followed to complete his 5 wickets. Captain Akshya and Lalit added 34 runs for the 8th wicket for Bahrain. Rudra Pratap Singh provided the breakthrough for Nepal dismissing Lalit lal for 17 runs.
Avinash Karn was brought back to bowl in 16th over and he immediately got success dismissing Awad Khan for in just the second ball of the over. He ended the match five overs later getting the last man Shukl for 3 runs.Captain of Bahrain side Akshay Krisha top scored for his side with unbeaten 23 runs.
Avinash Karn was adjudged the player of the match for his magical bowling spell. He finished with 8 wickets from his eight overs giving away 24 runs.
Nepal with 3 wins in a row is into the semi final of the ACC U19 Elite Cup. Nepal are placed at the top of the Group B table with 6 points bettering Malaysia, who also have 6 points from 3 wins, by Net Run Rate.
Nepal will face Malaysia tomorrow in the last match of the group stage. The winner of the match tomorrow will go into the semi final as winners of Group B.
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