The win over Sri Lanka Emerging team on the opening day of the 2019 ACC Emerging Asia Cup tournament by Oman set the tone for a promising event for the likes of Oman, Nepal and Hong Kong, but the expectations fizzed away by the end of the 2nd day of action during the group stage format, and finished by none of them qualifying for the semifinal stage after losing their other matches against the full-member countries in their respective groups.
Nepal’s only win in the tournament came against fellow Associate member, Hong Kong. Nepal’s batting against India Emerging was somewhat much better than their most of the better days, but the bowlers could not mount much pressure to create a match-winning result. Still, Nepal will take positives from the fact that despite the absence of both their main match-winners in Paras Khadka and Sandeep Lamichhane (playing for Team Abu Dhabi and Karnataka Tuskers respectively in Abu Dhabi T10), the team managed to put up some good individual performances in the event.
Hong Kong are pretty much going through a transitional phase at the moment, with many changes in the squad prior to ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers, but the matches at Emerging Asia Cup provided much needed exposure for the younger players in 50-overs format, as they travel to Oman shortly to take part in the ICC CWC Challenge League Group B tournament in Dec 2019.
Brief Scores
Hong Kong 164/9 off 50 overs (Haroon Arshad 35, Aizaz Khan 25, Kinchit Shah 24, Sumon Khan 4/33, Mahadi Hasan 2/23) lost to Bangladesh 166/1 off 24.1 overs (Naim Sheikh 52, Soumya Sarkar 84 n.o, Ehsan Khan 1/39) by 9 wickets
Nepal 193 all out off 44.5 overs (Sharad Vesawkar 44, Pawan Sarraf 56, Kushal Bhurtel 28, Saurabh Dubey 4/26, Yash Rathod 3/38, Parth Rekhade 2/5) lost to India 194/3 off 42 overs (Ravi Sharath 49, Sanvir Singh 56, Arman Jaffer 51 n.o, Karan KC 1/25, Sushan Bhari 1/40) by 7 wickets
Sri Lanka 268 all out off 50 overs (Petum Nissanka 40, Minodh Bhanuka 33, Charith Asalanka 57, Nadeeja Korale 62, Sanuth Ismail Ibrahim 3/41, Jay Odedra 2/52, Aqib Ilyas 1/41) lost to Oman 269/6 off 48.5 overs (Jatinder Singh 131 n.o, Suraj Kumar 70, Muhammad Naseem 21, Amila Aponso 3/40, Kalana Perera 1/44) by 4 wickets
Oman 153 all out off 44 overs (Jatinder Singh 72, Muhammad Naseem 19 n.o, Tariq Stanikzai 4/29, Abdul Wasi Noori 2/38, Nijat Masood 1/27) lost to Afghanistan 154/1 off 30.5 overs (Abdul Malik Khail 91 n.o, Shahidullah Kamal 34, Aqib Ilyas 1/20) by 9 wickets
Nepal 217 all out off 50 overs (Sharad Vesawkar 89, Dipendra Singh Airee 37, Aarif Sheikh 42; Aizaz Khan 3/42, Ehsan Khan 2/41, Nasrulla Rana 2/45) beat Hong Kong 177 all out off 45.5 overs (Kinchit Shah 53, Ehsan Khan 44 n.o, Karan KC 3/32, Abinash Bohara 3/32, Sushan Bhari 2/38) by 40 runs
India 322/5 off 50 overs (Ravi Sharath 90, Chinmay Sutar 104 n.o, Shubham Sharma 65 n.o, Kinchit Shah 3/33, Aftab Hussain 1/45) beat Hong Kong 202 all out off 47.3 overs (Shahid Wasif 68, Ehsan Khan 36, Ahsan Ali 25, Shubham Sharma 4/32, Shivam Mavi 2/34, Siddharth Desai 2/36) by 120 runs
Nepal 138 all out off 44.3 overs (Sompal Kami 38, Gyanendra Malla 22, Sumon Khan 3/29, Syed Minhajul Abedin 3/29, Mahadi Hasan 2/25, Tanvir Islam 2/26) lost to Bangladesh 140/2 off 24 overs (Naim Sheikh 45, Nazmul Shanto 59 n.o, Karan KC 1/11, Sushan Bhari 1/24) by 8 wickets
Pakistan 319/6 off 50 overs (Omair Yousuf 33, Haider Ali Khan 118, Rohail Nazir 64, Khushdil Shah 54 n.o, Fayyaz Butt 2/61, Muhammad Nadeem 2/72, Baadal Singh 1/35) beat Oman 172 all out off 47.3 overs (Muhammad Nadeem 46, Sandeep Goud 41, Muhammad Naseem 45, Khushdil Shah 3/27, Mohsin Khan 2/16, Muhammad Hasnain 2/21, Sameel Gul 2/31) by 147 runs
