Nepal U-19 put up a brave fight with the ball as they dragged Bangladesh U-19 to a last over finish to eventually lose the close match by 2 wickets with 1 ball remaining to be bowled. Bangladesh U-19 reached their D/L target after they lost flurry of wickets in the middle overs to bring Nepal U-19 back into the match in the opening group match for both the teams.
Batting first, Nepal U-19 were placed at 167/6 in the 41st over before rain stopped play in the 1st innings and Bangladesh were given a reduced target of 181 runs from 40 overs. Nepal’s total was built mainly on knocks from Bhim Sharki (44 off 40), Rohit Paudel (40 off 54) and Asif Sheikh (30 off 52). Nepal U-19 were precariously placed at 70/4 in the 25th over when Rohit and Sharki got together and the pair put on 79 runs in 80 deliveries for the 5th wicket to get them out of trouble before both got out and rain interrupted the innings.
Nayeem Hasan (3/33) was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh U-19 with Hasan Mahmud, Qazi Islam and Afif Hossain picking up a wicket apiece.
Bangladesh U-19 got a steady start from their openers, Pinak Ghosh (24 off 40) and Naim Sheikh (52 off 82) putting up a 47 runs partnership in the 13th over. Nepal U-19 bowlers brought their team back into the match as they kept picking wickets to reduce Bangladesh to 122/5 in the 33rd over. Afif Hossain (33 off 39) and Mahidul Islam (23 off 20) steadied the innings but Afif’s run-out opened the gates for wickets again as Bangladesh got reduced to 171/8 in the 40th over.
With 10 runs needed of 5 deliveries, both Nayeem Hasan and Robiul Haque scored a boundary each to reach 181/8 in 39.5 overs to win the match by 2 wickets. Sandeep Lamichhane (2/35) and Kamal Singh Airee (2/37) were the pick of the bowlers for Nepal U-19.
