Nepal and Afghanistan are facing each other for the first time in a cricket match of the ICC U-19 World Cup on Friday afternoon.
The Nepali youth team is taking on Afghanistan in the last group stage match today.
The match will kick off in East London, South Africa, at 2:50 pm.
Beaten in the previous two games, both Nepal and Afghanistan are eyeing the Super Six. The team that loses today's match will not reach the Super Six.
From Group D, Pakistan and New Zealand have confirmed their journey to the Super Six. Now a team between Nepal and Afghanistan will make it to the Super Six. Both the teams need a win for that.
Afghanistan suffered a 181-run defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the first match and lost to New Zealand by 1 wicket in the second match.
Similarly, Nepal was beaten by New Zealand by 64 runs in the first match and suffered a 5-wicket defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the second match.
Arjun Kumal, who scored 90 runs against New Zealand, failed to keep up the same performance against Pakistan. Nepal came under pressure after Arjun was out for 6 runs against Pakistan. Captain Dev Khanal scored 36 runs against New Zealand and 23 runs against Pakistan.
Arjun is expected to perform at his full capacity against Afghanistan. Earlier, Arjun scored 91 runs in the Asia Cup held in December.
Both Nepal and Afghanistan know each other's weaknesses and strengths because they faced each other a month ago. Therefore, it is necessary for Nepali players to play with self-control.
More is expected from Akash Chand and Subhas Bhandari against Afghanistan, based on their performance against Pakistan.
On the other hand, Afghanistan's batsmen Jamshid Zadran and Numan Shah can become a headache for Nepal. In the Asia Cup, Zadran played an inning of 106 runs before being out. Numan had an explosive performance of 60 runs.
Gulsan Jha, the experienced all-rounder of the senior team, has not been able to play in the World Cup. Gulsan, who was included in the team as an experienced person, did not perform as expected.
Head to head
Nepal and Afghanistan are going to meet for the first time in the U-19 World Cup. Earlier, Nepal lost to Afghanistan by 73 runs in the U-19 Asia Cup held in December.
In today's match, Nepal will try to avenge that defeat. Afghanistan wants to keep up with the same rhythm defeat the opponent for the second time in a row.
Nepal team
Dev Khanal (captain), Arjun Kumal, Akash Tripathi, Gulsan Jha, Dipesh Prasad Kandel, Subhash Bhandari, Deepak Bohara, Uttam Rangu Thapa Magar, Tilakraj Bhandari, Akash Chand, Deepak Prasad Dumre, Durgesh Gupta, Bishal Bikram KC and Bipin Rawal.
