Afghan romp to fourth win as Nepal survive Singapore surge
The Padang at the Singapore Cricket Club hosted the match between the unbeaten Afghans and the Malaysians, who have yet to register a win. Malaysia, who were still smarting from their loss against rivals Singapore the day before, won the toss and interestingly elected to bat. The Afghans took to the field, confident as ever and seemed to hit their strides almost immediately with their off spin - pace opening bowling attack. An early loss for Malaysia as Malik departed and just as fellow opener, Syed Aziz looked to be taking it to the Afghans, hitting three boundaries in 6 deliveries, he perished facingMujeeb Ur Rehman , the ball rapping his pads as he played a front foot defence and was dismissed for 12 (7).
It was all one way traffic as Afghanistan bossed the Malaysian batting line-up, taking wickets at will. Off spinner, Mujeeb Ur Rehmantormented the Malaysian batters as they struggled with his variations. After a few swings and misses in amidst a few beating the outside edge while trying to defend, no less than three batters saw their stumps rattled by Mujeeb’s bowling. Once again it was the Malaysian captain, Virandeep Singh who looked most assured with the bat against the Afghan bowling arsenal, but as wickets fell around him, he withdrew into his shell. It took a splendid delivery to remove the lanky Malaysian skipper, out bowled by a ball that turned sharply from outside off, courtesy of left arm leg spinner Stanikzai. Stanikzai helped himself to another wicket after dismissing Hafizuddin Gaffar and ending Malaysia’s innings for 58. MujeebUr Rehman clinching 6 wickets for 23 runs off his full quota of overs.
Obaid 22 (20) and Rasool 38 (14) opened for the Afghans and a few lusty blows by the two saw the match over in just 5.4 overs. Malaysia’s wretched match day performance compounded by a dropped catch in the deep. Majeed Ur Rehman was the obvious contender for Man of the Match.
At the Indian Association, Singapore won the toss and put their opponents in to bat. Nepal’s batting performances in the previous matches were nothing to write home about and Singapore felt that this was an area that they could exploit to earn their second win in the tournament. The first Nepali wicket fell in the second over and by the 11th over, Nepal were in a spot of bother finding themselves 39-3.
Opener Sunar and incoming Airee managed to bring some stability to the innings with a 33 run partnership which was broken when Sunar edged one off Achar for 26 (55). Airee continued batting with Paudel to take Nepal into the hundreds for a 41 run contribution as a pair and Nepal looked to have brought themselves back into the match. Aryaman Uchil came back for his second spell and removed Paudel which was the catalyst for Singapore to put the Nepalese under pressure again and even as Airee went on to score his 54 (83) and with Prakash adding 23 (24), diminutive leg spinner Bikram Biswasray spun his way to 3 wickets including that of the settled Airee to ensure that Nepal only managed a modest score of 168 as they were bowled out in the 47th over.
After the batting heroics of Rangarajan and Agarwal the day before against Malaysia, the chase of 168 looked to be very achievable and with that bringing the tantalizing prospect of beating Nepal at U19s level, a task Singapore had not achieved in the years that Nepal had ruled the roost as an Asian Associate powerhouse. Singapore could not have asked for a better start as Rangarajan and Agarwal got through the power play overs with Singapore on a steady platform of 41 runs. Rangarajan 23 (31) then hit one of Lamicchane’s deliveries back to him for a return catch but even then, Singapore looked to be in control as the innings was consolidated with Sidanth and Agarwal taking the score to 76 in the 23rd over. Exit Agarwal 21 (59) and the boat started to rock for Singapore as Nepal clawed their way back into the match.
The prospects of an onslaught by the hard hitting Brigu Iyer to ease the pressure went begging when he was dismissed for 1 run to bring earn Nepal their fifth wicket for 94 runs. Wicketkeeper Singhania found the form that had deserted him for some time and looked to be the unlikely saviour to bring Singapore glory but upon his dismissal at 139-6 after scoring a handy 32 (30), Singapore went on to lose the four remaining wickets for an additional 7 runs and being bowled out for 146 in the 47th over. A case of the failings of Singapore’s middle order which had plagued Singapore not only in this but previous tournaments and Singapore’s skipper Janak Prakash will know that this was the one that got away to earn Singapore a famous win against Nepal. Dipendra Singh Airee nominated Man of the Match for his half century which undoubtedly gave Nepal the chance to recover from their shaky start.
For results, live scores and information on the ICC U19 CWC 2018 Division 1 - Asia please go to:https://www.icc-cricket.com/u19-cwc-2018/asia/division-1-asia-2017/
