KARACHI, July 20: Nepal ended United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s hopes of qualifying for the Junior World Cup when they were sent packing out of contention in the Youth Asia Cup on Sunday.
UAE had to win this game in order to keep their hopes of making the semifinals but Nepal crushed them by eight wickets in a low-scoring Pool ‘A’ encounter at National Stadium.
Of course, UAE were desperately unlucky since two of their matches — against Qatar and Singapore — were abandoned because of monsoon rains in midweek.
Opting to bat first, UAE crashed for 78 in 39.5 overs with paceman Manjeet Shreshtha ripping through the top-order in taking four for 24. Last pair of Qasim Zubair and Riaz Khaliq shared the highest stand of the innings, putting on 23.
Nepal, already assured of a semifinal berth, reeled off the runs in just 16.1 overs. Kanishka Chaugai hammered seven boundaries on his way an unbeaten 42 off 41 deliveries.
Qatar, meanwhile, boosted their prospects of qualifying for the last four from this group with a clinical destruction of the hapless Maldivians in the day’s the fixture at the adjacent PCB Regional Academy Ground.
Maldives were shot out for exactly 50 in 23.4 overs after being sent in by Qatar skipper Athar Khan. Hassan Aflam saved grace for his side with a battling 22 off 46 balls.
The chief destroyer was leg-spinner Mohammad Emran, returning amazing analysis of four wickets for three runs in 3.4 overs.
Qatar duly knocked off the required runs to complete an eight-wicket victory in a dozen overs of batting.
Summarised scores:
*Nepal beat UAE by eight wickets at National Stadium:
UAE 78 in 32.5 overs (Manjeet Shrestha 4-24, Lakpa Lama 209, Shakti Gauchan 2-14);
NEPAL 79-2 in 16.1 overs (Kanishka Ghaugai 42 not out).
*Qatar beat Maldives by eight wickets at PCB Regional Academy Ground:
MALDIVES 50 in 23.4 overs (Hassan Aflam 22; Mohammad Emran 4-3);
QATAR 51-2 in 12 overs (Ahmed Umar 2-10).
Monday’s Pool ‘B’ fixtures: Oman v Malaysia at Quaid-i-Azam Cricket Park (Steel Town); Hong Kong v Thailand at National Stadium.
Standings
(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no result, points, bonus points, total points, net run-rate):
Nepal 3 2 0 1 13 2 15 +5.96
Qatar 4 1 1 2 11 2 13 +1.20
Singapore 2 1 0 2 11 0 11 +0.80
UAE 3 0 1 2 6 0 6 -3.65
Maldives 3 0 2 1 3 0 3 -6.16
Oman 2 2 0 0 10 2 12 +4.96
Kuwait 3 1 1 1 8 2 10 +0.42
Malaysia 2 1 0 1 8 0 8 +0.62
Hong Kong 3 0 2 1 3 0 3 -3.41
Thailand 2 0 1 1 3 0 3 -15.28