Kathmandu, July 3: Nepal has entered the finals of ACC U-16 East Zone Cup Cricket by defeating Singapore by 97 runs on Monday. Nepal won the toss and scored 184 runs after losing 9 wickets in the scheduled 35 overs match. In reply, Singapore were bowled out for 87 runs in 31.3 overs.
Nepal will face host Malaysia in the final on Tuesday. In the other semi-final on Monday, the home team Malaysia defeated Hong Kong by 78 runs. Although Singapore started aggressively, Nepali spinners restrained them.
Opener Roshan Ravichandran scored the highest 24 runs. He played 37 balls and hit 3 fours and 1 six. Kavir Berlia scored 11 runs.
Kritik Kamat took 3 wickets from Nepal. He spent 9 runs in 2.3 overs. Captain Abhishek Tiwari, Prateek Pokharel, Santosh Yadav, Ashok Dhami and Naren Bhatt took 1 wicket each.
Earlier, Suryanshu Koirala and Niraj Kumar Yadav scored 63 runs in 12 overs to give Nepal a good start. This partnership was broken after Suryanshu got out. He played 49 balls and scored 43 runs by hitting 6 fours. Niraj scored 42 runs in 49 balls and hit 3 fours and 1 six.
Wiketkeeper Ashish Luhar 6, Naren 3, Pratik 12 were dismissed in quick succession and Nepal was under pressure. Santosh Yadav played 24 balls and scored 18 runs with 2 fours. After Ashok Dhami was dismissed for 0, captain Abhishek Tiwari and Deep Bhujel shared an important partnership of 39 runs for the eighth wicket. Abhishek played 21 balls and scored 25 runs by hitting 1 four and a six.
Deep scored 12 runs in 15 balls and remained unbeaten. Kritik Kamat scored 10 runs in the last over and remained unbeaten. He played 5 balls and hit 1 boundary. Pratik Pokharel played 2 balls and scored 3 runs and remained unbeaten.
After defeating Thailand and Malaysia, Nepal became the winner of Group ‘A’ and reached the semi-final. After winning over Maldives and Indonesia, Singapore became the runner-up of Group B after losing to Hong Kong in the last match.
