By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – Nepal and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are set to face off in the finals of the ACC Men’s Premier Cup on Monday at TU Cricket Ground in Kathmandu. The first semi-final match was cancelled due to heavy rain and went scoreless, which automatically qualified Nepal for the final.
Nepal had previously confirmed its spot in the semi-finals as the winner of Group A, while Kuwait became the runner-up of Group B. As the semi-final match was aborted due to the rain, Nepal reached the finals as it is a group winner. According to the tournament rule, if there is no result, the team that finished higher in the group stage will be declared the winner.
The match was reduced to 42 overs as rain interrupted the game twice at TU Cricket Ground. After being invited to bat first, Nepal posted 281/9 in the allotted 42 overs.
The skipper, Rohit Paudel, was the star performer, scoring 94 runs off 95 deliveries with 7 fours and 3 sixes before being caught by Mohammed Aslam off Yasin Patel’s delivery in 40.5 overs.
Opener duo Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh departed for 43 and 31 runs, respectively, while Bhim Sharki left the crease after contributing just a run.
With Dipendra Singh Airee leaving the crease for a duck, Kushal Malla scored a half-century inning of 57 runs, and Aarif Sheikh added 19 runs to the tally. Sandeep Lamichhane scored 5 runs, and Karan KC contributed 7 runs. Meanwhile, Sompal Kami and Lalit Rajbanshi remained unbeaten for 13 and 2 runs, respectively.
Kuwait’s Mohammed Aslam and Adnan Idrees took 3 wickets each, while Yasin Patel and Sayed Monid grabbed one wicket each.
In response, Nepal’s pacer Karan KC picked up his 5-wicket haul, and Sompal Kami picked up a wicket to restrict Kuwait to 37/6 before rain cancelled the match. Skipper Mohammed Aslam was the top scorer for Kuwait, contributing 14 runs off 19 balls.
With opener Adnan Idrees departing for a duck, Ravija Sandaruwan added 9 runs to the scoreboard. Other contributions came from Parvindar Kumar (1), Meet Bhavsar (5), Shiraz Khan (3), and Yasin Patel (4).
In the second semi-final match at Mulpani Cricket Ground, UAE defeated Oman by two runs based on the Duckworth-Lewis method, confirming their place in the final. UAE will compete with the home team Nepal on Monday in the title decider. The winner will get an opportunity to play against India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
