Nepal U-19 lost to Noida XI by 68 runs in the fifth and the last match of of Nepal U-19’s tour of India. This was Nepal’s first defeat in the tour. Out of 4 earlier matches, Nepal had won 3 matches whereas 1 match was abandoned due to rain.
Noida XI posted 234 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 50 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat first. In reply, Nepal were bundled out for just 166 runs in 42 overs.
Nepal had a decent start, losing only 3 wickets in 20 overs. At one stage, the scoreboard read 92/3 in 18.2 overs before opening batsman Sandeep Sunar got out for 36 runs. Dipendra Singh Airee finally scored a half century following his three 30+ scores in previous 4 practice matches. He scored 55 runs smashing 2 sixes and 2 fours. He was bowled by Noida XI’s skipper Parwinder Awana. Similarly, Prakash KC was also amid the runs with a score of 31. However, Nepal’s batting collapsed in the final half of the innings losing 6 wickets for just 64 runs.
Anureet Singh, Nimit Saini and Harshit Sethi picked up 2 wickets each for Noida XI whereas Skipper Parwinder Awana, Ravi Singh and Gaurav Singh bagged 1 wicket each.
Noida XI’s captain Parwinder Awana has previously represented India National Cricket team in 2 T20Is while Anureet Singh, Tanmay Srivastav and Rahul Yadav have experience of playing in the IPL.
Noida XI’s opening batsman Tanmay Srivastav scored a blistering ton smashing 7 fours and 3 sixes. He ended up with an unbeaten score of 120 runs off 149 balls. The other opener Rahul Yadav also played a decent knock scoring brisk 33 runs off just 22 balls. The centurion of the previous match Anureet Singh wasn’t able to replicate his performance as he was caught out for 28.
Nepali bowlers were upto the task in this match as they restricted the opposition for just 234 runs. Kishor Mahato and Pawan Sharraf picked up 2 wickets each. Kishor, who dismissed skipper Parwinder Awana cheaply for 1 bowled 2 maidens conceding 43 runs off 10 overs in the process. Lalit Rajbanshi was the most economical bowler conceding a meagre 22 runs off 10 overs and picking up 1 wicket. Shahab Alam and Rohit Kumar Poudel bagged 1 wicket each. The bowlers were disciplined giving away only 5 extras.
Nepalese bowlers had conceded 278 runs in the previous match against the same opposition. However, The match had been abandoned due to rain midway in the 2nd innings.
Nepal U-19 team are currently training in Noida, India preparing for ICC Under-19 World Cup Asia Qualifiers to be held in Singapore from 15th-25th of July. Nepal are grouped up with Afghanistan, Malaysia and the hosts Singapore in the qualifiers. The tourney winner will qualify to the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018 to be held in New Zealand, in January.Nepal will travel to Singapore from India on 15th of July.
In the double round-robin format of the tournament, Nepal will play 6 matches in the qualifiers playing each team twice. They will face the host Singapore in their first match on 17th of July. Similarly, Malaysia on 18th of July, Afghanistan on 20th of July, Singapore on 21st of July, Malaysia on 24th of July and the final league match against Afghanistan on 25th of July.