In the match held at the AIT Ground, Nepal won the toss and invited Qatar to bat. Nepal restricted Qatar to a total of 113 runs in 47 overs, and reached the target of 114 runs in 20 overs losing four wickets.[break]
Nepal will now face Afghanistan in the title decider. Afghanistan beat Hong Kong by seven wickets in another semifinal played on Tuesday.
Nepal lost their captain Prithu Baskota early on in the match as he tore his ligament while fielding. Baskota was replaced by Shiva Kumar Tandukar.
“We are only a win away from our target,” said Nepali coach Jagat Tamata after the match. He further added that the injury of Baskota made the morale of players down.
“I asked the players to play for the captain and they played well through which we reached the finals.” Coach Tamata has become the second Nepali coach to take Nepal into the final of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup.
Nepal had won the ACC U-19 Elite Cup in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 and this is their sixth final. Nepal had lost to Afghanistan in the semifinal of the last edition and consequently failed to qualify for the ICC U-19 World Cup.
According to the rule of ICC, the finalists of the ACC U-19 tournament will qualify for the U-19 World Cup qualifiers. The qualifiers for the U-19 World Cup are likely to be held in July in Ireland. Kenya and Namibia have qualified from Africa for the tournament while Ireland and Scotland have qualified from Europe. Top six teams from a total of 10 teams from five continents will qualify for the U-19 World Cup.
In the wet pitch Nepal won the toss and as usual opted to bowl first. Qatar were heading toward a big total as they had already scored 55 runs losing a wicket in 13 overs. Bhuwan Karki broke the partnership and stopped Qatar from posting a big total.
Qatar´s key player Tamoor Sajjad was sent back to pavilion by Karki which turned the game in favour of Nepal. Before the semfinal, Sajjad had scored 223 runs in three matches with the average of 74 and also taken 13 wickets. “Karki´s first over was the turning point of the match and Rahul Bishwakarma bowled really well,” Coach Tamata added.
Bishwakarma continued his magical spell in the tournament as he took the wickets of Saad Khan, Ali Ishtiaq, Jalal Ahmad and Harith Jayakody. He made Khan his first victim in his first spell and took the other three wickets in his second spell. Karki took two wickets in his 10-over spell conceding 12 runs with four maiden overs. Avinash Karn claimed a wicket while three Qatari batsmen were run-out.
Nepal did not have a good start as they lost their first wicket of Subash Khakurel (2) and second of Faijlur Rahman Khan who scored a quick 19 runs off 12 balls. Nepal had scored 23 runs when they lost their two wickets. The 87-run partnership between Sagar Pun and Naresh Budhayer helped Nepal reach the target early.
Pun scored 36 runs off 46 balls with four boundaries and two sixes while Budhayer was not out on 41 runs off 50 balls. Nepal were in need of seven runs when Pradeep Airee came to the crease. Airee defended the first two balls and later struck two sixes at long-on to complete the victory.
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