Nepal concedes 141-run defeat to Afghanistan

KATHMANDU, July 20: Nepal went down to Afghanistan conceding a 141-run defeat in the match played today under the ICC Asia U-19 World Cup qualifier underway in Singapore.

Afghanistan had set a 191-run target to Nepal. Chasing the target, Nepal could muster only 49 runs in 26 overs, losing all its wickets.

Nepal’s starting was unimpressive. By 10.1 overs, it had lost its vital six wickets and collected merely 19 runs. Pawan Sarraf made 26 runs including three fours from 52 balls. The rest of the Nepali batsmen simply collapsed before the blasting Afghanistan bowlers. Four players returned to the pavilion without making any runs.

Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Zadran and Naveen-ul-Haq each took four wickets. Zadran conceded only seven runs in nine overs with five maidens while Haq gave away eight runs in four overs with one maiden. Haq pulled a hat-trick sending Dipendra Singh Airee to the pavilion in the fourth ball, followed by Pranit Thapa Magar in the fifth ball and Anil Shah in the sixth ball of the third over.

Earlier, Afghanistan which was invited to bat first after losing the toss made 190 runs in the 49.4 overs losing all its wickets in the stipulated 50 overs. Opening batsman Ibrahim Zadran scored 43 runs from 41 balls that include one six and five fours. Likewise, Naveed Obaid contributed 33 runs while Tariq Stanikzai 27 runs, Naveen-ul-Haq 20 runs and Imran Mohammadi 18 runs.

As for Nepal, Shahab Alam took three wickets in 10 overs at the loss of 46 runs. Likewise, Sandip Lamichhane and Pawan Sarraf claimed two wickets each. Sarraf gave away 19 runs in seven overs with two maidens while Lamichhane gave away 30 runs in 9.4 overs with two maidens.

Nepal had defeated Singapore in the first game and Malaysia in the second before this. RSS