Nepal has faced a 73-run defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in the second match of the ACC U-19 Asia Cup on Sunday.
Nepal was bowled out for 188 runs in 40.1 overs while chasing the 262-run target set by Afghanistan.
With the second consecutive defeat, Nepal’s possibility of reaching the semifinal has ended. Nepal lost to Pakistan by 7 wickets in the first match. It will, now, face India in the last group stage match on Tuesday.
To restrict Nepal to paltry 188 runs, Faridoon Dawoodzai and Naseer Khan Maroofkhil took three wickets each, Mohammad Younus grabbed two wickets while Wahidullah Zadran and Khalel Ahmad claimed one wicket each for Afghanistan.
On the batting side, even though Arjun Kumal made the highest 91 runs including 13 fours off 108 balls, the other batsmen of Nepal could not achieve significant runs.
Captain Dev Khanal scored 24 runs followed by Gulsan Jha, Deepak Bohara and Dipesh Kandel with 17, 15 and 11 runs, respectively. The other batsmen could not achieve double-digit runs.
Earlier, invited to bat first after losing the toss at the ICC Academy Ground No 2 in Dubai on Sunday, Afghanistan notched up 261 runs losing 8 wickets in 49.2 overs.
Jamshid Zadran topped the score with 106 runs including 8 fours off 152 deliveries. Similarly, Numan Shah scored 60 runs including five fours and three sixes off 41 balls while Rahimullah Zurmati hit 35 runs.
In reply, Gulsan Jha, Hemant Dhami and Subash Bhandari took two wickets each while Aakash Chand and Dipesh Kandel grabbed one wicket each for Nepal.
Similarly, Wafiullah Tarakhil, Khalel Ahmad and Khalid Taniwal contributed 15, 13 and 10 runs, respectively. The other batsmen could not make double-digit runs.
