Nepal finish fourth after defeat

click here for A comlete website about Nepalese sports Samiullah Shinwari played a heroic knock to guide Afghanistan to a three-wicket win over Nepal in the third-place playoff of the ACC Trophy Elite 2008 at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday. After the batting failure in the semifinal match against UAE on Friday, Nepal made 210/8 after electing to bat first and looked set for victory having reduced Afghanistan to 100/6 in 22.3 overs. But Shinwari added 59 runs for the seventh wicket with No 6 Mohammed Nabi (55 off 56) and unbeaten 54 runs with Ahmad Shah Ahmadi (26 off 27) as Afghanistan inflicted the third consecutive one-day defeat in as many matches on Nepal having defeated it at the same stage in the 2006 edition of the tournament and in the WCL Div 5 semifinal in Jersey earlier this year. Paras Khadka provided double break for Nepal in the eighth over dismissing the Afghan openers Nowroz Mangal (20 off 22) and Shafiqulah Shafaq (27 off 23) off the second and fifth ball after Afghanistan made flying start to its run-chase adding 49 runs. Shakti Gauchan then bowled No 4 Karim Sadiq for a duck two overs later and when Paras dismissed No 5 Asghar Stanikzai (16 off 22), and Raj Kumar Pradhan dismissed No 3 Noor ul Haq (7 of 33) and No 7 Raees Ahmadzai (4 off 13), Nepal looked set for a comfortable victory. But Nabi continued to play aggressively and patient Shinwary played a perfect foil to thwart Nepal. Even when Sanjam Regmi dismissed Nabi after his fiery knock studded with four boundaries and two sixes, Nepal still looked favorite. But No 9 Ahmadi was allowed to play with freedom while Shinwari calmly accumulated the runs to guide Afghanistan home with 10 balls to spare as captain Binod Das failed to prize out the much-needed breakthrough. Earlier, opener Kanishka Chaugain topscored with 43 and most of the other batsmen made useful contributions to take Nepal to 210. Opener Paresh Lohani made 26 off 39 balls with five fours as Nepal added 52 runs for the first wicket in 10.5 overs to vindicate the skipper’s decision to bat first. Kanishka was the second batsman to fall at 87 in the 21st over after hitting seven fours in his 63-ball knock. Sharad Vesawkar (19 off 47), Paras (22 off 29), Gyanendra Malla (21 off 22), Mehboob Alam (12 off 23) and Mahesh Chhetri (29 off 43) all got out after getting starts but Nepal still managed to put up a decent total with Binod making unbeaten 13 off 16 and Sanjam remaining not out on 12 off 15. But the inability of dislodging the lower order batsmen ensured that Nepal lost the match pretty easily in the end.