ICC U19 World Cup: New Zealand defeated Nepal by 64 runs

KATHMANDU: In the group stage match of the ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup, New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first against Nepal.

Tom Jones and Luke Watson laid a strong platform for the young Kiwis, making the most of some erratic bowling from Nepal which included nine runs in extras in the Powerplay overs. 

Nepal fought back right after the fielding restrictions were lifted, removing the Kiwi openers and Oliver Tewatiya in quick succession. It was the spinners who did all the damage with Subash Bhandari, Tilak Bhandari and Dipesh Kandel picking up a wicket apiece.

Snehith Reddy and Oscar Jackson then rebuilt the innings and soon opened their arms to pick up the scoring pace. Jackson hit five sixes during his stay at the wicket before he fell to Aakash Tripathi.

Gulshan Jha followed up with two quick wickets, and Nepal were back in the game. However, Snehith continued churning out runs and reached his hundred in the 46th over. His attacking strokeplay helped New Zealand to 302/8.

Though the young Rhinos batted with a positive intent against an adept New Zealand bowling line-up, they lost a couple of crucial wickets upfront. A sharp catch from Zac Cumming got rid of Deepak Bohara for a duck. Tripathi followed soon after, this time Lachlan Stackpole holding onto a stunner while running in under the high ball. Skipper Dev Khanal then stabilised the innings along with Arjun Kumal.

As Kumal tried to anchor and stick around, Khanal went for his shots, smashing five fours and a six during his stay. However, the captain fell while trying to gather pace in their scoring rate, hitting one straight to mid-on to his opposite number Jackson. Nepal lost two more in no time, including the experienced Gulshan Jha who fell while trying to smash Zac Cumming out of the ground. 

Even as Kumal stuck around and reached a composed fifty, Nepal kept losing wickets at the other end. The opener benefitted from several dropped chances and made the most of it with 90 from 104 balls. 

His dismissal in the 38th over was the final nail in the coffin for Nepal. The tailenders fought in the death overs, but New Zealand’s target proved to be too much.

After the game, Player of the Match Snehith Reddy said: “We were just looking to assess the conditions and give ourselves a chance. We knew if we could absorb the pressure, then we could apply it back and that was the real key.”