Cricket
Nepal Under-19 team’s campaign in Challengers Trophy ends without a win
In the four-team tournament, playing for the third spot, Nepal lost their last match to India ‘C’ by 155 runs.Prarambha Dahal
India 'C' outclassed the Nepal Under-19 team by 155 runs on Sunday in the One Day Challenger Trophy being played in the southern Indian city of Vijayawada. The Nepal team failed to win a single match in the tournament, finishing last on the standings.
Chasing a target of 259 runs set by India 'C’, a batting collapse saw Nepal being bundled out for a paltry 103 runs in 32.5 overs. Nepal lost skipper Rit Gautam for a duck on the fourth ball of their innings. Prior to this, Gautam had scored 84 runs against India ‘B’ on Friday.
Two further wickets falling in a span of four balls then found Nepal reeling at 6-3 in the third over.
Trit Das (19) and Khadak Bahadur Bohara (26) provided tried to avert a middle-order collapse by putting up a fight against a formidable Indian attack. The pair added 46 runs for the fourth wicket before Das was trapped leg before by Shubhang Hegde in the 15th over.
Without adding a single run to the total, Hari Bahadur Chauhan (2) too, fell and it became 56-6 in the 17th over when Bohara was caught two balls later by Mujtaba Yousuf off the bowling of Ravi Roshan Singh.
In a rearguard action, a belligerent Kushal Malla, Nepal's joint top scorer with 26 runs, clubbed three sixes. When he was caught by Vikrant Singh Bhadoriya off Hegde off the last ball of the 25th over, Nepal still required 171 runs to win off the remaining 25 overs. However, Nepal’s tail didn’t wag and the team got bowled out rather tamely.
Hegde was the pick of the Indian bowlers with a three-wicket haul. Vidyadhar Patil, Ravi Singh, and Pradosh Paul took two wickets each while Yousuf got one.
Earlier, after winning the toss and electing to bat first, India 'C' notched up a score of 258-6 in their 50 overs with all batsmen contributing to the team's total. The Indians lost their first wicket in the sixth over after Arjun Azad (19) was caught by Lokesh Bam off Bibek Kumar Yadav. Paul (14) returned to the pavilion in the 15th over with India’s score reading 63-2.
The hosts then lost two quick wickets as opener Arya Sethi, who hit four fours in his innings of 31 runs, became the third wicket to fall for India. When Sethi left, India’s score was 81-3 in 18.2 overs. Shaswat Rawat (17) was then caught by Akash Chand off Malla in the 23rd over. Later, Kumar Kushagra who scored 27 runs was stumped by Bam off Sagar Dhakal.
Vikrant Singh Bhadoriya was India's sixth and the last wicket of the match to fall. Bhadoriya scored 50 runs from 49 balls hitting four fours and two sixes. Before returning to the pavilion, he added 51 runs for the sixth wicket with Sagar Dagar.
Dagar, remained unbeaten on 58 runs and was the Indian team’s top scorer. Skipper Hegde scored a run-a-ball 36. Dagar smashed three sixes and two fours in his whirlwind innings.
Dhakal was the most successful bowler for Nepal with three wickets. Malla picked up two while Yadav had one to his name. Prior to the third-place face-off, Nepal had lost all its three matches in the league stage.