Nepal take on Afghanistan in a crucial match of the ICC U-19 World Cup Division 1 Asia Qualifiers at the Singapore Cricket Club in Padang on Thursday.

The South Asian archrivals are so far unbeaten in the tournament defeating Singapore and Malaysia in the first two games and a victory on Thursday will give the winning side an edge before the second round of the league begins. The table toppers after the double round robin league will make it to the 2018 ICC U-19 World Cup to be held in New Zealand.

Afghanistan, who received a major boost in international cricket after they were awarded Test status on July 22,

have already posed themselves as serious contenders for New Zealand tickets easing past their opponents in the first two games. They began the tournament with an eight-wicket humbling of Malaysia before sweeping away the hosts by seven wickets.

But it has been a topsy-turvy ride for Nepal, who have shown their bowling prowess bundling out Singapore and Malaysia cheaply but their batting has hardly clicked. Nepal bundled out Singapore for 73 runs but in their chase lost six wickets.

They struggled once again in the chase after dismissing Malaysia for 58. They lost five wickets to achieve the lowly target.

Nepal coach Binod Das said his side’s focus will be to get rid of the batting woes. “We will put all our attention in batting. Our batsmen did not fare well in the first two games and I expect them to do better against Afghanistan,” said Das who wanted to put his side in the same parameter with the Afghans.

“Afghans, no doubt, are strong sides and so are we. We need to play our best game tomorrow (on Thursday) to beat them. We will look to play the full 50 overs if we bat first. Anything more than 220 will be hard to chase for us,” added the coach. Nepal’s bowling attack, particularly spinners, appears in a great shape as they took 17 out of the 20 wickets in two games. All eyes will once again be on Nepal captain and leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, who has taken two five-wickets hauls to earn man-of-the-match in both the games.

The biggest concern for Das would be the poor form of his openers Sandeep Sunar and Aasif Sheikh as both batsmen have not been able to provide desired start in the first two games. The onus will also be on middle order mainstay Dipendra Singh Airee who performed consistently in the team’s pre-tournament preparations in Greater Noida but have fallen for the scores of two and four.

The only relief for the coach is consistency of another middle order batsman Pranit Thapa Magar who has managed to put some runs on the board totalling with 41 runs in the first two matches. However, it would be interesting to watch how Nepali batsmen will negotiate with Afghanistan’s two-prong pace attack of Naveen-ul-Haq and Yousuf Zazai who have so far collectively accounted for 12 wickets.

In the last seven previous meetings between the two sides, Nepal have won thrice and lost four times to the Afghans. Nepal have not beaten Afghanistan in the U-19 level for the last six years. Their last victory was during the 2011 U-19 World Cup Qualifiers in Ireland. Although his team is behind in terms of head-to-head stats, Das said the pressure will be on Afghanistan.

“I believe we both have equal chances of qualification but now the pressure will be more on Afghanistan as they are now a test nation. We will try to play to the best of our ability and put them under pressure,” Das told the Post from Singapore.