On the second day of the ICC Under 19 World Cup in Bangladesh, Nepal notched up a 32 runs upset victory over a New Zealand U 19 team in a thrilling encounter in Fatullah. Nepal U19, batting first, scored 238. Captain Raju Rijal, who is also the wicketkeeper of the team, scored 48 the highest score by a Nepali batsman in the match.
New Zealand U 19 captain Josh Finnie winning the toss decided to field first. But Nepali colts batting first put up a solid start with the openers putting on 39. However, Nepal were soon reduced to 68 for 3 before captain Raju Rijal (48) and Arif Sheikh(39) added 61 to salvage their inning. Some handy middle order contributions including a 23 ball 35 from Kushal Bhurtel helped Nepal to a competitive total. Nathan Smith picked up three wickets but went for 58 runs in his 10 overs.
While New Zealand boys came to chase Glenn Phillips (52) and Josh Finnie (37) gave a good start to the team with a 72 run partnership. However, both fell in quick succession and the innings soon fell apart. It looked like the match was over before Dale Phillips kept New Zealand on in the match with 41 run innings and along with Nathan Smith brought the equation down from 95 off 60 to 41 off 24 balls. At this juncture, Dipendra Singh Airee then turned the match in Nepal’s favour with a double strike that effectively killed the match as New Zealand all out for 206.