U-19 Asia Cup: Nepal beat Afghanistan

Kathmandu: Nepal defeated Afghanistan by one wicket in the final match of the U-19 Asia Cup Cricket Tournament underway in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Put into bat first after winning the toss in the Sharjah Cricket Stadium of Dubai, Afghanistan scored 123 runs in 35.4 overs after the loss of all wickets. In reply, Nepal chased the victory target of 124 runs at the loss of 9 wickets in 41.3 overs.

Naren Saud scored 26 runs, captain Hemant Dhami, 22, Arjun Kumal 21, Abhishek Tiwari 13, Akash Tripathi and Roshan Bishwakarma scored nine each and Santosh Yadav contributed seven runs to steer Nepal to victory. Nepal got 12 extra runs.

Afghanistan’s AM Ghajhanfar and Khatir Stanikzai took three wickets each and Abdul Aziz and Mahboob Khan took one wicket each. Earlier, Faisal Khan top-scored with 52 runs for Afghanistan while Allah Ghajanfar scored 11 runs and Nasir Khan 10 runs.

For Nepal, Unish Bikram Singh Thakuri and Santosh Yadav took three wickets each while Hemant Dhami and Abhishek Tiwari took two wickets each.

Earlier, Nepal had lost to Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the first match and Bangladesh by five wickets in the second match. Afghanistan had earlier lost to Bangladesh by 45 runs in the first match and Sri Lanka by 131 runs in the second match.

Both teams have been eliminated from the Asia Cup.

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