U-19 Asia Cup: Bangladesh earn 2nd successive win beating Nepal by 6 wickets

Bangladesh Under-19 Cricket team earned their 2nd successive victory in the ongoing ACC Under-19 Asia Cup 2019 beating Nepal Under-19 Cricket team by 6 wickets at P Sara Oval Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.
 
Bangladesh, which was placed in the Group B along with hosts Sri Lanka, Nepal and UAE, started their campaign crushing UAE by 6 wickets with 141 balls to spare at Free Trade Zone ground at Katunayake on Friday.
  
With the day’s feat, the Young Tigers now in the top slot of Group B securing full 4 points from two matches while their opponents Nepal are yet to open the account after losing both of their matches.

Bangladesh will now play hosts Sri Lanka in the last group match on Tuesday (September 10) in Moratuwa. 
 
Sent into bat first in the day’s match, Nepal scored 261 runs for 8 in stipulated 50 overs with opener Pawan Sarraf scoring the team highest 81 runs off 109 balls featuring 8 fours and one six while Sandeep Jhora contributing 56 runs off 37 balls, hitting 3 fours and 3 sixes. 

Rit Gautam (32), Kushal Malla (28), Bhim Sharki (21) and Captain Rohit Paudel (14) were the other notable scorers for Nepal.

Two Bangladeshi medium fast bowlers -- Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Shahin Alam – picked up 2 wickets each conceding 51 and 58 runs respectively while Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Rakibul Hasan, Minhazur Rahman and Towhid Hridoy claimed one wicket each. 

Chasing a target of 262 runs, Bangladesh suffered an early jolt losing two openers -- Tanzid Hasan (9) and Anik Sarker Shatu (5) –- for 19 runs in 4.5 overs. 

In the 3rd wicket-stand, Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Towhid Hridoy repaired the early damage adding 79 runs
 
Joy contributed 40 runs off 56 featuring 3 fours while Hridoy scored 60 off 88 hitting 3 boundaries. 

They set a solid platform on which captain Akbar Ali paring with Shamim Hossain finished the game scoring 130 runs in their 5th wicket stand. 

Akbar remained unbeaten on 98 runs off 82 balls smashing 14 fours while Shamim scored 42 not out off 45 balls hitting 4 fours. 

Kamal Singh picked up 2 wickets for 59 while Rashid Khan and Hari Chauhan bagged one wicket each for Nepal. In the Group A, India grouped alongside Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kuwait. 

Top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals scheduled for September 12 at two separate venues while the final will be held September 14.