Sports
Lamichhane stars as Nepal win
Nepal defeated hosts Singapore by four wickets in what was a shaky start to their ICC U-19 World Cup Division 1 Asia Qualifier campaign on Monday.Nepal defeated hosts Singapore by four wickets in what was a shaky start to their ICC U-19 World Cup Division 1 Asia Qualifier campaign on Monday.
Skipper Sandeep Lamichhane completed a five-wicket haul as Nepal bundled out Singapore for a paltry 73 in 29 overs after electing to field first at Singapore Cricket Club in Padang. Nepal reached the target in just 17 overs but not before losing six wickets in the process. Coach Binod Das admitted that it was a shaky start for his side which is aspiring to reach the 2018 U-19 World Cup in New Zealand. “The match went well but we could have done better in batting. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on though,” Das told the Post from Singapore.
The coach, however, was confident that his side would improve. “We will look to improve every aspect of our game. Batting is something that has to come good if we want to challenge any good team. We need to adapt to the pitch and adjust our game accordingly. We have come from good practice pitches in India and this pitch (in Padang) needed little more adjustment in technique and we have addressed that today,” he said.
Only the table toppers after the double round robin league in the four-team event will reach the World Cup. Afghanistan, meanwhile, hammered Malaysia by eight wickets in another match of the day after skittling out the latter for just 53 runs. They cruised to victory in just 5.4 overs. Nepal will meet Malaysia in their second match on Tuesday.
Leg spinner Lamichhane was the chief architect of Nepal victory as he accounted for five of the seven wickets that Singapore lost with just 26 runs on the board. Man-of-the-match Lamichhane returned with the figures of 5-21 from eight overs. No 8 batsman Brigu Iyer offered a late resistance making a 39-ball 42 with six fours and a six for Singapore.
Iyer was the last Singapore wicket to fall after he was bowled by seamer Kishor Mahato, who took 2-25 from six overs. Shahab Alam also had successful debut picking up 3-12 from six overs. Apart from Ayer, Sean Agarwal (11) was the only other Singapore batsman to make runs in double figures.
Nepal lost their openers Aasif Sheikh (four) and Sandeep Sunar (one) inside four overs. Dipendra Singh Airee (two) was next to go as Nepal were reduced to 31-3 in 7.5 overs. In-form Pranit Thapa Magar did a swift scoring to make a 26-ball 23 with three boundaries and departed in the 11th.
Anil Sah made 19 from 22 with three boundaries, while Rohit Kumar Paudel (11 not out) and Pawan Sarraf (four not out) completed the chase. Wicketkeeping batsman Prakash KC was out for just six runs. Aryaman Sunil and Gopinath Aahan picked up two wickets each for Singapore.
Summary
Nepal 77-6 in 17.3 overs (PT Magar 23, A Sah 19; G Aahan 2-9, A Sunil 2-14) beat Singapore 73 in 29 overs (B Iyer 42, S Agarwal 11; S Lamichhane 5-21, S Alam 3-12) by four wickets
Man-of-the-match: S Lamichhane