Sports
Nepal lose to Andhra Pradesh by 72 runs
Nepal lost their second practice match of their preparation tour of India losing to the local Andhra Pradesh Team by 70 runs on FridaySports Bureau
Nepal lost their second practice match of their preparation tour of India losing to the local Andhra Pradesh Team by 70 runs on Friday.
Electing to bat first, a century from P Tejaswi guided Andhra to a mammoth 289 all out in 49.3 overs. Nepal, who rested previous match’s high scorers Rohit Kumar Paudel, Sundeep Jora and Kamal Singh Airee, were bundled out for 217 runs in 45.2 overs. Nepal had won their first tour match against the same side by 62 runs.
The Nepali team is currently preparing for the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Asia Qualifier in Malaysia which starts from April 10. The six-team Qualifier, which also includes Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman, sends the champion into the 2020 U-19 World Cup in South Africa.
Nepal tried out a new opening pair of Pawan Sarraf and Rit Gautam (21) as the two gave a desired start with a 65-run first wicket partnership. The top four Nepali batsmen did manage to get the start but none of them converted it into big scores in their chase of a big total. Sarraf top scored with a 54-ball 35 with five hits to the fence.
Avishek Basnet (23) and Aashif Sheikh (25) also crossed double digits. Nepal were reduced to 132-6 at one stage but Kushal Malla and Lokesh Bam (16) added 38 runs to push the team towards a respectable total. Rashid Khan also scored a 26-ball 35 not out with four boundaries and a six. Malla scored a run-a-ball 30 with two sixes and as many boundaries. Hemant Reddy took 4-34 for the local side with T Vijay returning the figures of 2-51 from 10 overs.
Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh innings was built around their top order that began with a 61-run stand between openers Harshvardhan and N Aparanji (24). Harshvardhan scored a 37-ball 34 with four boundaries and a six. Tapaswi then held the innings with rest of the batsmen with crucial partnerships.
Tapaswi made an 83-ball 116 with eight sixes and six boundaries. Reddy and K Venkatesh also chipped in 23 runs each. Surya Tamang took three wickets but he was hit for 80 runs in 10 overs. Pratish GC, Aakash Chand, Sher Malla and Kushal also took a wicket each.