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Nepal shock mighty India
Nepal pulled off an astonishing 19-run win over Test-nation India in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup at the Bayuemas Oval grounds in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sunday.bookmark
Published at : November 13, 2017
Updated at : November 13, 2017 08:57
Kathmandu
Nepal pulled off an astonishing 19-run win over Test-nation India in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup at the Bayuemas Oval grounds in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sunday.Skipper Dipendra Singh Airee played the decisive role in helping stun India for the first time ever in the history of age-group cricket tournaments. Nepal had lost all their previous five matches against the South Asian neighbours dating back to 2000 ICC U-19 World Cup.
Invited to bat first, Nepal scored 185-8 in their allotted 50 overs thanks largely to their skipper Airee, who slammed a scintillating 88 runs. In reply India caved in for 166 runs in 48.1 overs with Airee once again the star performer with the ball as well, taking out four key Indian wickets.
Nepal lost opener Asif Sheikh (3) cheaply and No 3 batsman Anil Kumar Sah (6) but a composed knock from another opening batsman Jitendra Singh and an entertaining knock from Airee helped Nepal post the total, which ultimately turned out to be the winning ones. After being reduced to 28-2, Singh and Airee started to rebuild the Nepali innings with 49-run stand for the third wicket.
Abhishek Sharma broke the stand in the 28th over, having Singh caught and bowled on 36 runs. Singh his three boundaries in his 95-ball innings.
Airee, however, played with his natural flair and despite wickets tumbling at the other end kept on piling on runs. Airee was the last Nepali batsman to be out in the 49th over. But by then the Nepal skipper had clobbered six boundaries and two sixes in his 101-ball knock. Apart from Airee and Singh, only Bhim Sharki (15) was able to score runs in double figures. Aditya Thakare and Abhishek Sharma took two wickets each, while Vivekanand Tiwary, Mandeep Singh, Shiva Singh and Atharva Taide claimed one wicket each for India.
Skipper Himanshu Rana and his opening partner Manjot Kakra gave a flying start to the defending champions, putting on a 66-run stand for the first wicket. Rana appeared to take the game away from Nepal the way he was batting until Airee clean bowled him in the 13th over. Rana smashed seven boundaries and a six in his explosive knock of 46 runs off 38 balls. Kalra played a sedate innings, scoring 35 off 69 ball but India kept losing wickets at the other end. Only Abhishek Sharma (27) and Anuj Rawat (18) put on some meaningful runs against a discipline Nepali bowling.
Man-of-the-match Airee finished with figures of 4-39 from 10 overs, while Pawan Sarraf and Shahab Alam took two wickets each. Star leg- spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and Kamal Singh Airee also grabbed a wicket each for Nepal. Nepal next play Malaysia on Tuesday, the same day India play Bangladesh.
Summary
Nepal 185-8 in 50 overs (DS Airee 88, J Singh 36; A Thakare 2-33, A Sharma 2-38) beat India 166 in 48.1 overs (H Rana 46, M Kalra 35; DS Airee 4-39, P Sarraf 2-24, S Alam 2-11) by 19 runs
Man-of-the-match: DS Airee (NEP)
Standings
Team M W L NR NRR Pts
Group A
India 2 1 1 0 1.83 2
Nepal 2 1 1 0 0.193 2
Bangladesh 1 1 0 0 0.044 2
Malaysia 1 0 1 0 -4.04 0
Group B
Sri Lanka 2 2 0 0 2.367 4
Pakistan 2 1 1 0 1.278 2
Afghanistan 2 1 1 0 1.1 2
UAE 2 0 2 0 -4.171 0
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