Nepal and Afghanistan both seek a place in their first ever final of the ACC U-19 Asia Cup as the two South Asian archrivals meet in the semi-finals at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

While Nepal are competing in their maiden semi-finals, Afghanistan have been repeatedly haunted by their semi-final jinx having lost on all three previous editions. Afghanistan had crushed Nepal during the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers in Singapore three months ago. But on Friday they meet a team that heads into the semi-final as boasting side that beat three-time defending champions India.

Group ‘A’ runners-up Nepal have been a different team after putting a mediocre performance in July’s Qualifiers—even against lowly ranked non-Test playing teams—as they came just short of beating Bangladesh in the league opener before going on to stun Test giants India by 19 runs. They were even more clinical in an eight-wicket humbling of hosts Malaysia in final group stage match.

Nepal coach Binod Das wants to keep aside the results of the recent past and expects to keep up the momentum for the semi-finals. “This is another opportunity (to prove ourselves) after passing the group stage hurdle. We are playing good cricket and all the players are faring according to expectations. We want to continue this momentum against the Afghans,” said Das on the eve of the match.

Nepal are almost unchanged after getting crushed by Afghanistan in the two matches of the Qualifiers and lost a spot in the 2018 U-19 World Cup. But Das was not in the mood to give up. “We had failed to give good performance in both the matches (against Afghanistan) in Singapore because of a poor batting,” added Das.

“But the situation now is completely different. We bowled all 50 overs against Test playing teams and the plans that we have implementing are executed pretty well. The team is high on confidence,” said Das adding his team is well aware of the opponents. “We are quite aware of their strengths and weaknesses. All we need to do is focus on our strength and expect everyone to fulfill the given responsibility.”

Skipper Dipendra Singh Airee said his boys would not let go the rare opportunity to be in the final. “There is a big chance for us to get into the final. We had not played well against Afghanistan in the past but the situation now is changed. The boys are confident and we are playing as a unit,” said Airee.

Aasif Sheikh and Jitendra Singh Thakuri will once again be in focus after the new opening pair has so far failed to replicate the performance against Bangladesh in Nepal’s pre-tournament practice match. Sheikh and Thakuri had raised the eyebrows after they forged a 129-run stand in the third practice game that Nepal had won by six wickets.

While the middle and lower middle order have been making most of the runs for Nepal and are well backed by a strong spin attack, the only area that Nepal would like to see improvement is the opening department.

The winner of Friday’s match will meet Pakistan in the title showdown on Sunday. Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by two runs under Duckworth/Lewis Method in a rain-affected game on Thursday. Put in to bat, Bangladesh made an imposing 274-6 from 50 overs. Pakistan were 199-5 in 39 overs before rain intervened and went to win the game by a slim margin.

Nepal vs Afghanistan Head-to-Head

Four reasons why Nepal are clear underdogs

In the nine previous meetings between the two sides at U-19 level, Afghanistan have won six matches. Nepal’s big victory came when current national team skipper Paras Khadka led his side to the 2007 ACC U-19 Elite Cup title with victory over Afghans in the final in Malaysia.

Afghanistan had crushed Nepal twice in the recent meetings in the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers for Asia Region in July this year in Singapore. Nepal were bundled out for 49 to lose by 141 runs in the first match and managed just 99 in the second to go down by 96 runs. Nepal squad remains almost the same that played in Singapore.

Afghanistan squad consists of a relatively strong bowling lineup in both pace and spin departments. Their strength is evident by the fact that they bundled out Pakistan for 57 runs in the tournament. Fast bowler and skipper Naveen-Ul-Haq and offspinner Mujeeb Zadran have been instrumental in Afghanistan’s recent successes in U-19 cricket. 

The Afghans finished Group ‘B’ winners after amassing a mammoth 224-3 against the United Arab Emirates. Middle order batsman Darwish Rasool, who hit a 38-ball 105 against the UAE and 50 against Sri Lanka, is in a sublime form. Their opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran are also in fine fettle. Zadran had smashed a century against Nepal in Singapore.