Nepal celebrates 255-run victory over Thailand

Kathmandu - Nepal restricted Thailand to 26 runs in 10 overs to win the match held today under the ACC U- 19 qualifying match (eastern region) at the Kuala Lumpur-based cricket ground Kelab Aman by a huge margin of 255 runs. 

Sandip Lamichhane alone took seven wickets to beat the competitor by such a number of runs. 

Nepal, who were placed into batting first after losing the toss, secured 281 runs in 50 overs at the loss of six wickets. 

Nepali team player Anil Kumar Saha who missed just 9 runs to make a century contributed the highest 91 runs with five sixes and six boundaries in 74 balls. 

Pranit Thapa Magar made 50 runs with one six and three fours in 61 balls while Sadip Sunar gathered 32, Rohit Kumar Poudel 28, team captain Dipendra Singh Airee 22, Pawan Sarraf 22 and Asif Sheikh 21 runs. 

Thailand seemed helpless before Nepal's aggressive bowling. No batsman from the Thai squad managed to collect a double-digit run. 

Sandip gave just six runs while taking seven wickets in four overs. Captain Airee, Nanda Yadav and Kishore Mahat took a wicket each. 

Nepal placed in group 'A' of the tournament will play next matches against Singapore and Bhutan. It will meet Bhutan on Wednesday and Singapore team on Thursday. 

Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Myanmar share the group 'B" and teams reaching the final will qualify for playing in the U-19 Asia Cup.