KATHMANDU, Dec 7: Nepal national cricket team has lost to Bangladesh U-23 team by 44 runs in the T-20 match played at Tribhuwan University cricket ground, Kirtipur on Saturday.
Earlier, Nepal won the toss and elected to field first. Bangladesh batting first presented a decent target of 156 the hosts. Bangladeshi skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto scored unbeaten 75 of 60 deliveries with 4 maximums and 4 boundaries. Similarly, Afif Hossain supported his captain in the winning campaign with 52 runs off 28 balls.
Young hope
In the bowling department, Nepal's Paras Khadka took 3 Maldivian wickets conceding only 15 runs in 4 overs. Similarly, Dipendra Singh Airee and Abinash Bohora claimed 2 and 1 wicket respectively.
Chasing the target, Nepal lost its first wicket in the fourth over in the form of Paras Khadka. Except for captain Gyanendra Malla's 43, Dipendra Singh Airee's 16 and Abinash Bohora's 13, no other batsmen could reach the double-digit mark for Nepal. As a result, Nepal managed to score only 111 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs.
Soumya Sarkar, Tanvir Islam, Sumon Khan and Mehidy Hasan picked two wickets each for Bangladesh.
With this loss, Nepal’s hopes of clinching SAG gold in cricket has come to an end. Bangladesh, on the other hand, has made it to the finals.
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will vie for gold.
