Nepal's young squad displayed a maturity far beyond their years to outsmart their rivals from Afghanistan and win the Asia Cup under-15 final by six wickets at the Zayed Cricket Stadium here yesterday.
The favourites, who are coached by former Sri Lankan Test star Roy Dias, were in total control as they first restricted the hard-hitting Afghanis to a modest 147 before comfortably overhauling that total.
Antim Thapa picked up four for 19 and then rattled off an unbeaten 37 to emerge as as man of the final after opener Anil Kumar Mandal stroked a solid 79.
Electing to bat first, Afghanistan at one stage looked to be heading towards a good total when they had scored 134 for the loss of just four wickets.
Openers Sajid Khan (24) and Hasmathullah (27) put on 49 for the first wicket and later Javid Ahmadi and Zard Ali shared a 58-run partnership for the fifth wicket. But once Ahmadi fell for a breezy 58 off just 79 balls, the inexperience of the Afghan side hit them hard.
From 134 for 4 the team was bowled out for 147, the last six wickets falling for just 13 runs. Antim, who dismissed Javid, claimed three more wickets to return impressive figures of 4 for 19. The Aghan boys could have added some more runs as they still had 15 balls left.
Nepal were also in some early trouble when they lost opener Dipin Shresta for six and star batsman Gyanendra Mall for a duck, both wickets going to Sanaullah who was to pick up the Best Bowler award for the tournament.
But despite those early setbacks, the Nepal batsman stuck to their disciplined approach, which they have adopted right through the tournament.
Anil Kumar Mandal and Antim Thapa came together and put on 108 runs for the third wicket to virtually put the issue beyond doubt. Anil hit ten boundaries and got out for 79 when just 10 runs were required. Antim remained unbeaten on 37.
"The boys have worked hard for the last three months and they played consistently well," said Dias after his team's win. The Sri Lankan has been with the Nepal team for over four years now and the youngsters call him the "godfather'.
"We played well as a unit and everyone chipped in with useful contributions," Dias added.
The jubilant side were mobbed by quite a large section of the Nepalese expatriates, who cheered every run to make the final an nice and noisy affair.
SCORES
Nepal beat Afghanistan by six wickets
Afghanistan: 147 all out in 37.3 overs (Sajid Khan 24, Hasmathullah 27, Javid Ahmadi 58, Antip Thapa 4 for 19, Shashi Kesari 3 for 29, Angel Acharya 2 for 17)
Nepal: 148 for 4 in 35 overs (Anil K Mandal 79, Antim Thapa 37 n.o, Sanaullah 2 for 25)
Special Awards:
Best Batsman: Anil K Mandal of Nepal
Best Bowler: Sanaullah of Afghanistan
Man of the Tournament: Hasmathullah of Afghanistan
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