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7-wkt Raj steers Nepal to 2nd round

KATHMANDU, JAN 15 - Nepal entered the second round of the U-17 Asia Cup for the first time as amazing bowling by Raj Shrestha and captain’s knock by Paras Khadka gave Nepal a 164-run win over Qatar at the ACA-VDCA Stadium of Vishakhapattnam, India today.Nepal will be playing against India, Pakistan and the other qualifier from Group C in the second round of the tournament on 19, 20 and 22 January in Banglore. The group leader and runners-up will enter the semifinal. In two earlier tournaments in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Nepal failed to qualify for the second round.
Left-arm spinner Raj, who captained Nepal in U-15 Asia Cup last year, bowled 6 overs, gave away 16 runs and snatched 7 wickets - the best from a Nepali at that level. Raj’s heroics ended Qatar’s reply at 83 all out in 24 overs. Earlier, Nepal scored 245/5 in allotted 45 overs with Paras scoring unbeaten 85 and Sarad Vesawkar getting 66.Sarad and Mahesh Chhettri opened innings after Nepal opted to bat and stood for a century partnership - 105 in 19.5 overs. They improved Kaniska Chaugai and Monik Shrestha’s 60-run opening partnership of 2001. The partnership is also the second best for any wicket after Monik and Shakti Gauchan’s 123 against Singapore in 2001.Sarad hit 9 boundaries for his 66 off 60 deliveries while Mahesh played patiently for 34 off 64 balls. Both of them fell in the same score - Sarad went first caught off Qatar captain Omer Arshad and Mahesh followed three balls later bowled by Zaheeruddin.
Paras entered the field with a solid platform under his feet and continued his Tuesday’s form. He had scored unbeaten 47 against Malaysia. He played 79 balls and made Qatar fielders run across boundary rope 11 times. He partnered 52 with Sunil Bista (19 off 33), 64 with Pawan Das (15 off 30) to help his team reach the second highest innings total. Nepal had scored 295/6 against Singapore in 2001.Paras’s 85* is also the second best individual score at the level after Monik’s 113* against Singapore. Qatari bowlers suffered as Nepali batsmen made curry of their bowling. Omer Arshad and Jasdeep Singh each got 2 wickets. Singh was hit 39 runs in his 6 overs while Zaheeruddin went for 58 off 9 overs.Qatar started the reply patiently with openers Arshad and Fakhar Iqbal playing safely to add 30 runs in 8.5 overs. But once Arshad was bowled by seamer Bantu Bataju, Raj initiated the batting collapse. Raj bowled three batsmen, trapped two leg before and gave wicketkeeper Diwas Thakuri chances to stump two. In between, Jasdeep fell victim of Paras’ excellent fielding.Only three batsmen of Qatar crossed the two-digit mark - Fakhar (26), Faisal Noor (19) and Arshad (12). Irfan claimed the last wicket for a celebration. Sarad, who opened bowling with Bantu, didn’t take any wicket but bowled his 9 overs superbly giving away just 23 runs.On Tuesday, Afghanistan stunned UAE by 4 runs while Oman beat Kuwait by 73 runs in Group B ties. Baharain registered awin against Thailand in Group C tie while Hong Kong and Maldives defeated Bhutan and Saudi Arabia respectively in Group D matches.Posted on: 2004-01-16 03:17

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