DEC 10, 2011 KATHMANDU, Nepal – Not Long ago, Nepal started to play cricket inside the country and going out to play with veterans, Amid short history, Nepal's cricket team has grown so fast that is nearly going to play one day match soon.
Nepal's rollercoaster run in the ACC Twenty20 Championship came to an end after suffering a defeat by a big margin of nine wickets against Afghanistan in the first semi-final match played at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur, on Friday.
Afghanistan looked invincible as they completely dominated the game in both the innings.
In the match that commenced about an hour late and was reduced to 16 overs abiding to the poor visibility, Nepal opted to bat first and could only post 68 runs losing nine wickets.
Nepal had no answers to the piercing bowling attack of Afghanistan as they kneeled down and lost their wickets in regular intervals.
In reply, Afghanistan achieved the target in 9.2 overs at the loss of one wicket. Karim Sadiq and Shabir Noori seemed accustomed to and untroubled against the bowling attack of Nepal. Sadiq scored 32 off 27 balls and Shabir Noori contributed 27 off 22 balls for the easy victory.
Earlier, opener Subash Khakurel (3 off 6 balls) and Anil Mandal (6 off 19 balls) could not create the foundation for a respectable total.
Mehaboob Alam, who had scored a match winning 88 against Saudi Arabia returned to the pavilion without opening an account and the following batsmen failed to shoulder the responsibility of rescuing the team.
Apart from skipper Paras Khadka (30 off 29 balls) and Basanta Regmi (10 off 13 deliveries), other batsmen could not contribute in double figures.
Other batsmen fell cheaply and could amass only 31 runs combined.
Dawlat Zadran created a havoc in Nepali innings by claiming four wickets. Mohammad Zamir Khan took two wickets and Hamid Hassan, and Mohammad Nabi grabbed one wicket apiece. Afghanistan will be combating with Hong Kong—who defeated Oman in another semi-final match by 82 runs—for the title.
Nepal will be contesting against Oman on Saturday at Lalitpur for the third place.
It was really hard try and wish they will come up with another round soon. For this time its just an experience.