India, Nepal reach quarter finals of U-19 World Cup

Group D

A huge fan of Australian Legend Shane Warne, Nepal’s U-19 player Sandeep Lamichhane produced a match-winning performance in a World Cup encounter against Ireland. Having won the toss, Ireland’s U-19 team opted to bat first and lost both its openers as early as in the 18th over. The score was 42-2 when Sandeep came in to bowl his first spell. Showing his love for Warne, he wreaked havoc as Ireland managed to score a meagre 131 in their respective quota.

The highlight of the match was Sandeep’s hattrick, only the fifth instance in U-19 World Cup. His match figures read 10-0-27-5. Nepal won the match with considerable ease and booked their seat in quarter finals.

India U-19’s also managed to reach the quarterfinals after beating the New Zealand U-19 team comprehensively. Avesh Khan was the pick of bowlers as he took four important wickets and helped India seal the match by 120 runs. Earlier, Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz khan made some useful contributions with the bat. Pant 57 (83b, 7×4, 2×6) and Khan 74 (80b, 9×4) drove India to a total of 258-8.

Group B

Two other Asian teams made their way to the next level. Sri Lanka U-19’s team defeated the Afghanistan U-19 team in a closely fought contest whereas Pak U-19’s registered an easy win over Canada U-19 team to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament.

An all round performance by Sri Lanka’s captain Charith Asalanka led his team to a 33 run win over Afghanistan. After opting to bat, Sri Lanka lost a cluster of wickets and were reduced to 96-5. Asalanka then stitched useful partnerships with the lower order before Sri Lanka collapsed for 184.

Afghanistan were placed comfortably at 66-2 after a catastrophic failure saw them struggling at 91-6. Eventually they were bowled out for 151 runs which gave Sri Lanka U-19’s a place in quarters.

In the other encounter of Group B, Pakistan U-19’s had no difficulty beating the Canada U-19’s. Three wickets from Hasan Khan and an unbeaten 89 from Zeeshan Malik cruised Pakistan to a seven wicket win and a berth in the quarterfinals. 

Batting first, Canada made a solid start with Bhavindu Adhihetty (51 off 82) adding 60 runs with Amish Taploo (28) and 49 runs with captain Abraash Khan. Soon after, wickets started to fall and Canada crumbled for 178 runs and eventually lost the game.