KATHMANDU, May 11: All-round performance from Jagdish Chand guided Nepal into the final of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup cricket tournament for second time in a row on Friday. Nepal registered a comfortable 101 run win over defending champion Singapore.
Seventh order batsman Chand hammered 53 runs off 24 deliveries which included six boundaries and three sixes. In bowling, Chand pocketed two wickets in his 6.5 over spell giving away 28 runs.
With the victory, Nepal also avenged the defeat suffered in the first edition of tournament in Kathmandu in 2010.
Nepal will face host Malaysia in the final of the tournament on Sunday. Malaysia advanced to the final with 36 runs victory over Oman. Nepal had played against Malaysia in the league round and registered one wicket victory.
On Friday, winning the toss Nepal opted to bat first and scored 240 runs losing nine wickets in the 40-over match.
Opener Dipendra Chand and Nurdhoj Sen shared 42-run partnership for the first wicket.
Skipper Chand was back into the pavilion scoring 20 runs off nine balls, including two boundaries and a huge six. Sen scored 51 runs off 60 balls with nine boundaries. Nepali batsmen lost their wickets at regular intervals but scored runs as well.
Aadil Khan scored 21 runs off 42 balls while Rupesh Bastola scored 21 runs off 18 balls with three boundaries. Kaushik Illango, Abhinav and Archit Goenka grabbed two wickets each for Singapore. Aalap Asuriekar and Simar Miglani shared a wicket each. Singapore bowlers gifted 16 runs to Nepal as extras.
Following his sides win, Nepal´s Manager Sanjeev Pandey said the team was highly motivated and was confident on winning the title. “As we are undefeated in the tournament and we wish to give continuity to our undefeated streak until the final," Pandey said.
Chasing the mammoth target, Singapore was bowled out for 139 runs in 36.5 overs. Akash Bista grabbed three wickets in eight overs conceding 24 runs. Rupesh Bastola and Dipendra Chand shared a wicket each.
Singapore had a sound start as the openers Archit Goenka and Vaikunth Seshadri shared 81-run partnership for the first wicket. Both the openers were run out by Nurdhoj Sen and Aadil Khan respectively. Seshadri scored 47 runs off 72 balls with three boundaries a huge six. Goenka scored 39 runs off 51 balls with four boundaries.
Three of Singapore batsmen were out for a duck while four others failed to reach the double figure. Nepali bowlers put up disciplined bowling giving away only 12 runs as extras.
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