Nepal lost their first Super Six match against Bangladesh by five wickets at the ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup in Bloemfontein, South Africa on Wednesday.

Nepal had already crashed out of the semi-final contention after defending champions and tournament favourites India and Pakistan won their respective Super Six matches on Tuesday, with the victories giving each of them six points in the Group 1 of the Super Six stage. Nepal had no points. The teams had carried forward their wins, points and net run rate against their fellow qualifying teams.

Nepal were coming off a nerve-wrangling group stage victory against Afghanistan that had sent them through to the Super Six as a third-place team in Group D and were expected to put up a big challenge to Bangladesh.

Instead, the young Rhinos fell prey to Bangladesh, with their batting display proving Achilles’s heel once again.

However, Subash Bhandari shone with the ball with a five-wicket haul that almost put Bangladesh on their knees.

Nepal were bundled out for a paltry 169 in 49.5 overs that saw only Bishal Bikram KC making significant contribution with 48 runs off 100 balls.

Captain Dev Khanal, whose gallant 58 had guided Nepal to a nervy one-wicket win over the Afghans in one of the most exciting finishes of South Africa U-19 World Cup, provided the second highest score of Nepal. Khanal made 35 runs facing 60 deliveries.

Arjun Kumal, who scored 90 against New Zealand in Nepal’s opening loss, continued his dismal performance for a third match in a row as he barely managed to touch the double-digit figures.

Other batters failed to cross the single-digit mark, with Bipin Rawal (2), Aakash Tripathi (3), Gulsan Jha (3), Dipak Bohara (3), Dipesh Kandel (3) and Durgesh Gupta (9), except for Bhandari, who played 18 not out.

Rohanat Doullah Borson took four wickets for Bangladesh, while Sheikh Paevez Jobon pocketed three.

Fifer

Bhandari had a crucial role in Nepal’s victory against Afghanistan. When Afghanistan needed one wicket to win and one run to defend, Bhandari had kept his composure and resilience to drag Nepal to the rest stop.

The spinner was a big headache for Bangladesh as well.

Bhandari took down half of the Bangladesh side alone with his lethal spin that also included the big wicket of Jishan Alam, who scored a half-century (55 off 43), but his 5-44 could not become sufficient.

Other bowlers, including Aakash Chand, who had taken a five-wicket haul against Afghanistan, could not break through the Bangladesh batting line up and the fielding was below par.

But the Bangladeshi batters were more clinical and Ariful Islam scored an unbeaten fifty (59 off 38 balls) to lead the young Tigers to 170-5 in 25.2 overs.

“We were short by 50-60 runs. Couple of guys didn't play to their potential and a couple of good batsmen as well…but they are not showing what they can do. Last one match to go so looking forward to ending on a positive note,” captain Dev Khanal told Cricinfo after the loss.

“There will be some confidence after this game for Bishal and Subash. A couple of good things to take from this game, but I am not happy with the performance because we can play some good cricket as well.”

The win kept alive Bangladesh’s hopes to reach the semi-finals. They stay third in the six-team Group 1 with four points.

Nepal play India on Friday in their second and final Super Six fixture.