Nepal succumbed to a second successive defeat after they lost to Pakistan by five wickets in their Group D match of the 2024 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup in East London, South Africa on Wednesday.

Nepal had lost their opening match to New Zealand by 64 runs—their first World Cup defeat against the Kiwi’s U-19 side—on Sunday and were under pressure to deliver at the Buffalo Park.

But Dev Khanal’s men were never comfortable against the Pakistani side, besides a brilliant bowling display from Aakash Chand.

The defeat leaves Nepal in the third position in their group—one place above Afghanistan, who are also winless—and they now must beat the Afghans in their last group match on Saturday to qualify for the Super Six stage as third-placed team.

Pakistan and New Zealand, both of whom have two wins out of two, progressed and will face off each other on Saturday to decide the group winners. Pakistan currently occupy the top spot due to superior net run rate.

Pakistan started as favourites but had to survive some scare from Nepal’s pacer Chand in their chase of a 198-run target.

Pakistan openers Shamyl Hussain and Shahzaib Khan, who had scored a century against Afghanistan, played cautious cricket and gave their side a strong start adding 80 runs.

But they suffered a mini-collapse after the 22nd over as Chand removed openers Hussain (37) and Khan (37) in a span of three balls before knocking out Arafat Minhas (8) four overs later.

Pakistan’s run flow dried up and were in trouble at 104-4 as they lost their fourth wicket for just 24 runs after Aakash Tripathi got the big fish removing captain Saad Baig in the 28th over.

Nepal looked to be in control of the match but needed more wickets to pull off a shock victory.

But Ahmad Hassan and Azan Awais held their nerves and steadied the ship with a stable 64-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

Dipesh Kandel dismissed Hassan for 29 in the 43rd over but it was already too late for Nepal as Pakistan were already cruising at 168-5.

Awais then completed the formality with 63 not out and guided Pakistan to 201-5 with a boundary off Deepak Dumre in the fourth ball of the 48th over.

Earlier, Nepal, who opted to bat first, looked positive in the powerplay but lost their way after Pakistan introduced their spin.

Nepal lost their opener Arjun Kumal—who had scored 90 against New Zealand—for six, bowled by Hussain in the fifth over.

Hussain struck again, removing Tripathi (6) in the seventh over but captain Khanal and Bipin Rawal stablised their innings to take Nepal to 80-2 before Ubaid Shah brilliantly caught Khanal off spinner Ali Afsand to check the run flow.

Nepal started crumbling after losing their captain as Uttam Magar (4) fell to the lethal spin of Minhas, who then got his second dismissing the prized wicket of Rawal (39) in the 27th over to limit Nepal to 96-5. Rawal was the top scorer for Nepal.

Gulsan Jha and Deepak Dumre presented some endurance to the Pakistan bowling attack but Khubaib Khalil sent away Jha (18) and Minhas bagged his third to dismiss Kandel (13) to retake control of the game.

Nepal were reeling at 148-7 in 43rd over but a resistance from tailenders Dumre (26), Subash Bandari (20) and Chand (16) dragged Nepal to 197 all out in 50 overs—which was still a below-par total.