Tuesday, Dec 31, 2013

Dubai: UAE batsmen crumbled before Nepal’s left-arm bowling as the hosts lost the third match of their Asian Cricket Council Under-19 Asia Cup at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium by four wickets.

Left-arm spinner Sushan Bhari took four wickets for 34 runs while left-arm medium pacer Lalit Bhandari bagged three wickets for 43 runs. They were supported by another left-arm spinner Bhuvan Karki, who also took two wickets for 38 runs. The UAE were bowled out for 159 runs in 42.2 overs. Nepal won with 102 balls to spare.

The UAE had won the toss and elected to bat. Bhandari picked an early wicket by clean bowling Shivank Vijayakumar for 9. He also dismissed opener Chirag Suri for 20. Skipper Rohit Singh too got out for a duck, clean bowled by Ramnaresh Giri and the UAE slipped to 43 for 3 in 12 overs.

Dan D’Souza and Shorye Chopra took the score to 66 when Karki trapped Chopra leg before for 13. Zamin Jaleel who joined Dan D’Souza speeded up the UAE run rate with a breezy 31 off 36 balls with two sixes and one boundary. The pair put on 53 runs for the fifth wicket before Jaleel fell.

Eight runs later, D’Souza too departed after hitting 32 runs. After Jay Joshi fell for 12 runs, Moaaz Qazi kept the UAE score moving with 17 runs before getting stumped by wicketkeeper Raju Rijall off Bhari. 
Medium pacer Pankaj Prakash, gave the UAE a good start by picking two Nepal wickets. Fresh from his four wicket spell against Pakistan in the last match, Prakash had opener Amit Shrestha caught behind by wicketkeeper Vijayakumar for a duck to the second ball of the innings. He also dismissed one-drop Bibhatsu Thapa for 9.

Sajid Khan ended opener Prakash Bista’s knock of 22 runs but Aarif Shaikh took charge and hit a quick 48 runs off 57 balls to ensure the victory.

In another match, at Abu Dhabi Shaikh Zayed Stadium Nursery-1 ground, Afghanistan whipped Malaysia by ten wicket to win with 280 balls to spare. Sayed Shrizad with four wickets and Abdullah Adil taking three wickets bowled out Malaysia for just 40 runs. Afghanistan won in 3.2 overs.

At Abu Dhabi Shaikh Zayed Stadium Nursery-2 ground, Sri Lanka registered a thrilling two wicket win over Bangladesh. Chasing Bangladesh’s total of 203 for 6, Sri Lanka won the match with 11 balls to spare through Kusual Mendis’s 100 and Priyamal Perera’s unbeaten 62.

By K.R. Nayar Chief Cricket Writer

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