KATHMANDU: Nepal has become the champion of the ACC u-16 Eastern Zone Cup cricket tournament for the third consecutive time.
Nepal defeated Malaysia by a wide margin of 221 runs and captured the title for the third time in the final match at the Bayuemas Oval Cricket Ground, Malaysia on Tuesday.
Naren Bhatta scored an unbeaten century to give victory to Nepal. He scored an unbeaten 112 off 89 balls.
Similarly, Abhishek Tiwari took five wickets against Malaysia. He took the most five wickets by spending 7 runs including one maiden while bowling 6 overs.
Chasing the target of 253 runs given by Nepal, Malaysia reached 31 runs in 14.5 overs. Only one player from Malaysia could score double-digit runs.
Muhammad Akram of Malaysia scored 10 runs while Muhammad Rifaie scored 7 runs. Similarly, five Malaysian players could not open the account of any runs.
Abhishek took five wickets, Santosh Yadav took three wickets and Ashok Dhami and Sagar Gaire took one each.
Earlier, Nepal won the toss and scored 252 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the scheduled 35 overs.
Naren faced 89 balls and remained unbeaten on 112 runs.
Similarly, Neeraj Kumar Yadav contributed 47 runs.
Nepal’s Santosh Yadav scored 26 runs while opener Suryanshu Koirala scored 18 runs. Similarly, Ashok Dhami was dismissed for 11 runs.
For Malaysia, Mohammad Akra took 3 wickets while Hajiz Haikal and Arin Akil took one wicket each.
Earlier, Nepal won the title for the second consecutive time in 2017 and 2019. This is the third edition. Nepal U-16 has scored a hat-trick in this tournament.
Nepal stunned Singapore by 97 runs in the semi-final match and Malaysia shocked Hong Kong by 78 runs to reach the final.
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