Nepal has entered the semifinal of the ACC Men's U-16 East Zone Cup as the Group A winner, thanks to Bipin Prasad Sharma's lethal bowling land Raunak Srivastav's explosive batting.
Nepal bowled out Bhutan for 60 runs in 32.4 overs while the latter was chasing the 359-run target. Nepal has notched up 8 points out of 4 matches played so far. Nepal, which entered the semi-final with one match remaining, has trounced Bhutan by 298 runs.
To restrict the opponent to paltry 60 runs, Bipin Prasad Sharma took the highest 4 wickets giving away 7 runs in 10 overs. Similarly, Suyog Bhattarai and Sachin Bhatta grabbed 2 wickets each for Nepal.
Tshezang Dawa's 14-run score was the highest for Bhutan. Dawa hit 2 fours off 32 deliveries follwed by Ugyen Kelzang Chophel with 10 runs. The other batsmen could not achieve significant runs for Bhutan.
Earlier, electing to bat first after winning the toss at Selangor Turf Club in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday morning, Nepal notched up 358 runs losing 5 wickets in the allotted 50 overs.
Raunak Srivastav topped the score with 168 runs including 16 fours and 5 sixes off 132 deliveries followed by Joy Thapa made 61 runs off 67 balls while Shiwansh Bajgain contributed 54 runs. Similarly, Sugam Budhathoki scored 54 runs off 52 runs. The other batsmen could not score significant runs.
On the bowling side, Sangay Dorji took the highest 3 wickets giving away 70 runs while Tenzin Loday Jamtsho grabbed 1 wicket for Bhutan.
Similarly, Singapore has also entered the semi-final as the runner-up from Group A. Hong Kong and Malaysia have entered the semi-final as Group B winner and runner-up, respectively.
Now, Nepal will take on Malaysia and Hong Kong will lock horns with Singapore in semi-finals.
Both the semi-finals matches will be played on Thursday. The third-place and final matches will be held on Saturday.
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