Kathmandu, April 21, 2019: Nepal defended the ACC U-16 Eastern Region cricket tournament title with a complete seven-wicket win over Myanmar in Chiangmai, Thailand, on Saturday.
The first bat was elected at Prem Tinsulanonda International School grounds, Myanmar was bowled out for 58 runs in 13.2 overs. Nepal reached the victory scoring 62-3 in just 8.1 overs.
Skipper Bishal Bikram KC led Nepal’s demolition of Myanmar taking out the first two wickets of Khant Ko Ko and Ye Myant Thu with just three runs on the board. Both the batsmen failed to open their account. The hapless Myanmar batting can be summed up by the fact that only two of their batsmen—opener Christopher and No 5 Kaung Htet Kyaw—reached the double-figure mark.
In reply, Nepal lost Opener Deepak Bohara (6), Suwash Ayer (11) and KC (3) to be 25-3 by the fourth over. But Bohara’s opening partner Arjun Kumar played with his natural flair to complete the chase. Despite seeing wickets tumble at the other end, Kumar stuck to his natural game scoring a quickfire 26 off just 15 balls including four hits to the fence. Prashan Mahat also remained unbeaten on 9, hitting one boundary in his 15-ball innings. Kyaw took two and Ko Ko claimed one wicket for Myanmar.
Apart from Myanmar, Nepal is pitted in Group ‘A’ with Malaysia and Thailand. Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Bhutan are in Group ‘B’. Nepal takes on Malaysia on April 24 and Thailand the next day. Top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals. Nepal clinched the ACC U-16 Eastern Region title defeating Singapore by 71 runs on December 17, 2017
