Kathmandu – Leg Spinner Sandeep Lamichhane took five wickets in the rain-affected match against Malaysia U19 to bundle them out for 45 runs and the batters earned the victory in 5.2 overs to win the match by 8 wickets in the on-going ACC U19 Youth Asia Cup 2017 at Bayuemas Oval on Tuesday.
The win over the defending champion India U19 certainly brought the confidence in Nepalese young players before the match against Malaysia U19. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t help the cause for Nepal as the match was delayed due to rain. Later, the rain stopped and the match got reduced to 24-overs a side.
1st Innings
Nepal U19 won the toss and invited the host to bat in the damp condition. The opening bowlers Kamal Singh Airee and Kishor Mahato were touched expensive in their early overs and Malaysian openers capitalised, moving quickly to 33 runs in sixth over. Skipper Airee called Anil Kumar Sah to bowl and that decision paid off as he dismissed opener Virandeep Singh for 10(15). Next over, Skipper decided to bowl and he grabbed two wickets in the same over dismissing the set opener Syed Aziz for 20(21) and Shaunvinder Singh for 0(2).
Leg Spinner Sandeep Lamichhane came to bowl in the eighth over and immediately took his first wicket. He started to pick wickets at regular intervals and later grabbed another fifer in his U19 career to bundle out Malaysia U19 for 45 runs in 15.3 overs. Lamichhane finished with the match figure of 5/8 in his 4.3 overs (4.3-0-8-5).
Malaysian team collapsed from 33 without loss to 45 all out, losing 10 wickets in just 12 runs.
2nd Innings
In reply, Nepal U19 got off to a flying start. The opener, Anil Kumar Sah played a brisk inning of 26(15) including one four and three sixes but they lost quick wickets of Aashif Shiekh 4(14) and Dipendra Singh Airee 12(3) in the fifth over.
Chasing 46 runs, Anil Sah hit a maximum to end the game in 5.2 overs.
Although this win moved Nepal to the second position in the points table, the match between India and Bangladesh will decide the semi-finalist.