Nepal's third win in a row beat Hong Kong in the 13th over

Kathmandu. The home team Nepal has won the third consecutive victory in the qualifying tournament of the Asian region of the ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup. Nepal defeated Hong Kong China by a wide margin of nine wickets in the match played on Wednesday. 

After losing the toss and being invited to bat first, Hong Kong scored 115 runs before being bowled out in 46.2 overs. In reply, Nepal scored 118 runs after losing only one wicket in 12.3 overs. 

Opener batsmen Sahil Patel and Niraj Kumar Yadav gave Nepal a fast start. Both of them shared 55 runs for the opening wicket. In the fourth ball of the sixth over, Niraj got out after scoring 23 runs. Niraj faced only 12 balls and also hit four fours. Another opener Sahil remained unbeaten on 42 runs. During this, he faced 41 balls and hit eight fours. Naren Bhatt, who came to hold the crease at number three, also scored an unbeaten 39 runs.

Naren, who was presented aggressively, faced only 23 balls and hit eight fours. Nepal also got 14 extra runs. Hong Kong bowler Sayan Puri took Nepal's only wicket.  Before that, Shiv Mathur played a half-century innings for Hong Kong, who batted first. Shiva, who came to hold the crease at number three, scored 63 runs. He faced 116 balls and hit one six and four fours.

Other batsmen could not perform fast. Opener Arya Panjwani scored 13 runs. Harry Thomas scored 10 runs. Veer Mathur also added 12 runs. Other Hong Kong batsmen could not score runs in double figures. Hong Kong got 11 runs in addition. 

Yuvraj Khatri, the bowler of the Nepalese team, once again gave an excellent performance. He took four wickets in 10 overs for just 18 runs. In the previous match against Oman too, he performed well and took five wickets. Bipin Prasad Sharma also took three wickets. He spent 24 runs in 6.2 overs. Santosh Yadav also took two wickets. He spent 20 runs in 10 overs. Ashok Dhami also picked up a wicket. 

Nepal played their third match in the ongoing qualifying tournament. Earlier, the Nepali team had won both the matches they played. In its first match, Nepal defeated arch-rival United Arab Emirates (UAE) by ‘Duckworth & Lewis’ Based on the rules, they lost by five wickets.

In the second match, Nepal defeated Oman by a wide margin of eight wickets. This qualifying tournament is being played for the ICC U–19 World Cup to be held in 2026. Five teams are participating in the qualifying tournament. 

Nepal and Afghanistan have won all their matches so far. Hong Kong lost for the second time in a row. UAE also lost their first match. Oman, who have played two matches, have also been defeated in the previous two matches. Nepal will play its fourth and final match against strong Afghanistan on Saturday. 

A team that will be on the first place in the points table from this tournament will qualify for the ICC U–19 World Cup to be held in 2026. The 16th edition of the U–19 ODI World Cup is being jointly organized in Zimbabwe and Namibia. 

A total of 16 teams will participate in the U–19 World Cup. So far, 12 teams to play in the World Cup have been decided. Zimbabwe will play the World Cup as the host nation. Tanzania has been selected for the World Cup from the African continent. Similarly, previous winners Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies have been selected for the World Cup based on their performance in the previous edition. The four teams that will qualify for the World Cup from America, Asia, East Asia-Pacific and Europe are yet to be decided.