Nepal U-19 openers finally got their mojo back as they laid the foundation for the team’s victory over Bangladesh U-19 in the final match of their 3-match unofficial Youth ODI series. Nepal U-19 however, lost the series 2-1 to Bangladesh U-19 after below-par performances in the first 2 matches.
Aasif Sheikh (90 off 88) and Jitendra Singh (45 off 109) provided the best start possible with a 139 runs partnership for the opening wicket before both fell resulting in mini-collapse as they were reduced to 159/3 in the 36th over.
Dipendra Airee and Rohit Paudel steadied the nerves with a 42 runs partnership for the 4th wicket to take Nepal U-19 past 200 before Rohit got out making 25 runs. Airee (27 n.o off 35) and Bhim Sharki (13 n.o off 10) took Nepal U-19 to 229/4 in 46.3 overs to win the match by 6 wickets.
Earlier, Bangladesh U-19 won the toss and batted first to post 225/7 in their 50 overs. Their innings was held together by Aminul Islam’s unbeaten knock of 80 from 87 deliveries. Aminul got good support from Md. Rakib (39 from 36) and the pair shared a partnership of 62 runs for the 5th wicket after Nepal bowlers had them pinned down at 82/4 in the 27th over. Robiul Haque (21 n.o off 17 deliveries) played a good cameo and shared an unbeaten 8th wicket partnership of 53 runs in 32 deliveries with Aminul to take Bangladesh U-19 to their final total.
Shahab Alam (3/45), Anil Kumar Sah (2/35) and Dipendra Singh Airee (1/54) were the wicket-takers for Nepal U-19 while Sandeep bowled economically again giving away only 32 runs in his 10 overs.
Both teams will now head to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to play in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup where they are placed in the same group along with host’s Malaysia U-19 and asian powerhouse, India U-19.
