PM Dahal congratulates ACC U19 winning Nepali team

Kathmandu: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has congratulated the winning players of the ACC U19 Premium Cup. 

Extending gratitude to the cricketers for their scintillating performance, PM Dahal in a social media post said the Nepali cricket team has made a history in winning the special title. 

Nepali cricket team defeated the UAE team in a final match of the ACC premier cup held in Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia today. They won the match by 19 runs through the Duckworth-Lewis Method.

Nepal chose to bat first after winning the toss and managed to score 280 runs in the 50 overs, at the loss of eight wickets. In response, the UAE team had gathered 50 runs in 11 overs before the rain temporarily interrupted the match.

After the rain-triggered delay, the UAE was given a revised target of 198 runs to chase in 27 overs using the Duckworth-Lewis Method. However, they were all out in 26.5 overs with a total of 178 runs.

Dev Khanal was the standout performer for Nepal, scoring a century off 92 balls, with nine fours and three sixes. Uttam Thapa contributed 57 runs to the team's total, while Arjun Kumar added 55. Arjun and Dev shared an excellent partnership of 125 runs for the third wicket.

Deepak Dumre scored 28 runs, followed by 10 runs from Dipesh Kandel, five from Deepak Bohora, seven from Hemanta Dhami, and three from Bishal Bikram KC.

For the UAE, Harit Shetty was the most successful bowler, taking five wickets, and the team's captain, Ayan Khan, took two wickets.

The UAE's batting performance showed a promising start but ultimately fell short of securing victory. Dhruv Parashar was the highest scorer for the team with 59 runs, while captain Khan contributed 30 runs and Aryansh Sharma scored 32 runs.

Nepal's Akash Tripathi took four wickets, Subash Bhandari three, Akash Chand  two, and Hemanta Dhami dismissed one batsman.