Nepal suffered second successive defeat on Friday in the Quadrangular U-19 One Day Series in Lucknow that effectively ended any hopes of reaching Tuesday’s title match.

After losing their tournament opener against the second-string Indian team by 40 runs on Wednesday, Nepal yet again lost to the Indian A Team by eight wickets at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium on Friday. Electing to bat first against the first-choice Indian team, Nepal battled to score 156 in 45.5 overs. The Indian side cantered to victory for the loss of two wickets in just 24.1 overs.

Sundeep Zora and Trit Raj Das saved Nepal’s blushes scoring bulk of the runs in what was a low total. Das, who opened the innings with Ravi Shah  (5), remained defiant scoring a painstaking 46 despite witnessing wickets tumble at the other end including that of skipper Aasif Sheikh  (0). Das clobbered seven fours in his 86-ball knock.

Most importantly, he combined with Zora to put on 69-run stand for the fourth wicket that helped Nepal avoid falling to an embarrassingly low total. As long as Zora was in the pitch Nepal appeared to post a more respectable total on the board. But his dismissal in the 41st triggered a remarkable collapse that saw Nepal lose their last five wickets for addition of just 15 runs.

Zora struck five boundaries and a six in his 93-ball 66. Bhim Sharki was the only other Nepali batsmen apart from Das and Zora to score in double  figures. He contributed 28 off 46 ball with three hits to the fence. YD Mangwani and Ajay Dev Goud took four wickets each for the Indian team.

India ‘A’ made a shaky start to their run chase after losing opener Nehal Wadhera (1) leg before wicket (LBW) to Kamal Singh Airee at 13-1. But captain Anju Rawat and YV Rathod resurrected the Indian innings with a 65-run second wicket partnership for the second wicket. Rawat fell three runs short of his half century, LBW to Pawan Sarraf in the 14th over.

But Rathod and Prabhsimran Singh made light of the Nepali bowling to help India race to victory with more than 25 overs to spare. Rathod remained unbeaten on 59, his 68-ball innings included five fours and a six. Singh was even more aggressive slamming three sixes and two fours in his unbeaten 29-ball 46.

Nepal now play Afghanistan, who are also out of the title contention with back-to-back defeats, in their last match on Saturday before playing the third-place playoff on Tuesday. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has organised the four-team tournament to prepare its team for the ACC Under-19 Youth Asia Cup.

Summary

India B 157 in 24.1 overs (YV Rathod 59*, A Rawat 47, P Singh 46*; KS Airee 1-34, P Sarraf 1-44) beat Nepal 156 in 45.5 overs (YD Mangwani 4-23, AD Goud 4-24) by eight wickets

Man-of-the-match: AD Goud