Nepal signed off from the ACC U-19 Asia Cup with a three-wicket victory over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan grounds in Savar, Bangladesh, on Tuesday.

Electing to bat first, UAE rode on a solid century opening partnership from Fahad Nawaz and Ansh Tandon to make 268-8 in 50 overs. Nepal recovered from an early wobble as half centuries from Sandeep Zora and Rohit Kumar Paudel guided them to 274-7 with five balls to spare.

In a dead rubber match, Nepal lost opener Trit Raj Das (six) and Rit Gautam (18) at 45-2. Skipper Aasif Sheikh and Zora then resurrected the Nepali innings with a third wicket stand of 59 runs. Sheikh scored 35 from 46 with five hits to the fence. Zora and Paudel, the latest entrant in the senior national team, then added 49 runs for the fourth wicket as Nepal crossed 150 runs inside 30 overs.

Zora scored a 74-ball 67 with six boundaries and two sixes. Paudel did the bulk of scoring in his 45-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Pawan Sarraf (nine). Nepal soon lost new-man Arun Airee as they were reduced to 214-6 in 43.3 overs. However, Paudel and Rashid Khan put on a match-winning seventh wicket stand of 53 runs. Paudel ran himself out in the 49th over but by then Nepal were just two runs short of their target. Khan sealed the victory with a six to remain unbeaten on a 14-ball 27 that included three hits over the fence.

Man-of-the-match Paudel scored 91 from 88 balls with six boundaries and three sixes. Aaron Benjamin and Aryan Lakra took two wickets each for the UAE. Paudel had also made 46 runs in Nepal’s three-wicket loss to Afghanistan on Sunday. Nepal, who also lost to India in the first match, were already out from semi-final contention.

Earlier in the day, Nawaz and Tandon laid the foundation for a big UAE total with a 159-run opening wicket partnership. After seamer Nandan Yadav, playing his first match of the tournament, removed both the batsmen in a space of 17 runs, UAE started losing their momentum. Nawaz top scored with a 95-ball 83 with five fours and three sixes. Tandon scored 67 off 81 with eight boundaries and one maximum, while Brandon Adam (18), Wasi Shah (18) and Ali Mirza (16) were their next best scorers. Apart from Yadav, Khan and Sarraf also took two wickets each for Nepal.

While Afghanistan and India made it to the semi-finals from Group ‘A’, hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka reached the last four from Group ‘B’. Afghanistan on Tuesday lost to India by 51 runs and last year’s runners-up Pakistan crashed to a 13-run defeat to Sri Lanka. Bangladesh crushed Hong Kong by nine wickets in another Group ‘B’ match.

Summary

Nepal 274-7 in 49.1 overs (RK Paudel 91, S Zora 67, A Sheikh 35; A Benjamin 2-23, A Lakra 2-37) beat the UAE 268-8 in 50 overs (F Nawaz 83, A Tandon 67; P Sarraf 2-41, R Khan 2-51, N Yadav 2-51) by three wickets

Man-of-the-match: RK Paudel (NEP)