Kathmandu. In the first match of the ACC Men's Premier Cup cricket tournament held in Oman on Friday, Malaysia set a target of 144 runs to win against Nepal. After winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Malaysia scored 143 runs after losing three wickets in the allotted overs. Opener batsman Virendeep Singh contributed unbeaten 72 runs for Malaysia. He faced just 57 balls and hit four sixes and four fours. The third batsman Shravin Muniyandi also added 41 runs to the account of the team.
Shrawin faced only 33 balls and hit two sixes and three fours. Opener Muhammad Amir scored 16 runs and Najams Shakib scored three unbeaten runs. Bowler Dipendra Singh Airi of Nepali team took two wickets and Avinash Bohra took one wicket. Malelia's first wicket was taken by Nepali team bowler Dipendrasingh Airi. Dipendra dismissed Malaysian opener Muhammad Amir for a personal score of 16 runs. Dipendra himself took the catch of Amir in his bowling. Amir also hit three fours in 18 balls before returning to the pavilion. Malaysia scored 35 runs when Amir got out in 5.1 overs. Avinash Bohra took the second wicket of Malaysia. He bowled Melia's number three batsman Shravin Muniyandi. Before returning to the pavilion, Shrawin scored 41 runs. He faced only 33 balls and hit two sixes and three fours. When Shrawin got out in 16.1 overs, Malaysia had scored 117 runs.
Malaysia's third wicket was taken by Dipendra Singh Airi. He had Malaysia's number four batsman Saeed Aziz caught by Kushal Malla. Before returning to the pavilion, Aziz scored 6 runs in seven balls with the help of a four. This was the second wicket taken by Dipendra personally. When Aziz got out in 17.5 overs, Malaysia scored 126 runs. Malaysia won the toss and decided to bat first.
10 teams are participating in the second edition of the Premier Cup, which will be held until May 9. Nepal won the title of the first edition of the Premier Cup. Last year, Nepal defeated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by seven wickets in the final of the Premier Cup held at home ground.
The Nepali team left for Oman after playing a triangular series with local clubs in India. During the tour of India, the Nepali team played a triangular T20 series with the state level clubs Gujarat and Baroda. Nepal also won the title of the series.
Premier Cup Cricket is a very important tournament for the Associate Member States of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). This tournament provides an opportunity for the Associates member countries to play a big tournament like the Asia Cup.
In the previous edition as well, Nepal won the Premier Cup and qualified for the Asia Cup. Associates member nations that have qualified for the Asia Cup get an opportunity to face much stronger Test nations than themselves.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan participate in the Asia Cup. In the 2023 Asia Cup, Nepal was placed in Group 'A'. India and Pakistan, the two arch-rivals of world cricket, were also in Nepal's group.
In that edition of the Asia Cup, Nepali players got the opportunity to play with world famous players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreysh Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kisan, Ravindra Jadeja, Babar Azam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah. got
The performance of Nepali players in the match against India and Pakistan was also excellent. However, the Nepali team was defeated in both matches. Especially in the match against India, the Nepali batsmen had a great performance. In the match against Pakistan, the Nepali bowlers had a dynamic performance.
The upcoming edition of ACC Premier Cup is also important for Nepal in another sense. The previous edition of ACC Premier Cup was played in ODI format. However, the second edition will be played in T20 format.
Therefore, the upcoming edition of the ACC Premier Cup will also help the preparation of the ICC T20 World Cup to be held in America and West Indies in June this year. Nepal is also participating in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Oman, another country participating in the ACC Premier Cup this time, is also participating in the T20 World Cup. The ACC Premier Cup is also a dynamic opportunity for these two nations participating in the T20 World Cup to improve their performance.
This time also 10 teams are participating in the ACC Premier Cup. Eight nations, including Nepal, have been selected for the tournament based on the ICC rankings of the Associates member nations. The remaining two nations, Saudi Arabia and Cambodia, have qualified for the ACC Premier Cup from the ACC Men's Challenger Cup.
This time, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are in Group 'A' along with Nepal in the ACC Premier Cup. Group 'B' of the competition consists of Bahrain, Cambodia, Kuwait, host Oman and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Nepal will play their second match against Qatar on Saturday. On April 15, Nepal will play its third match against Hong Kong. Nepal will play the last match of the group stage against Saudi Arabia on April 17.
After the end of the group stage, two teams from both groups will enter the semi-finals of the competition. Both the semi-final matches will be played on April 19. The winning team in the semi-final will go to the final, while the two defeated teams will play for the third place on April 20. The final match of the tournament will be played on April 21.
The Nepali team announced for the tournament includes Rohit Kumar Paudel (captain), Asif Sheikh, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Vivek Yadav, Sandeep Zora, Anil Shah, Gulsan Jha, Dipendra Singh Airi, Lalit Rajwanshi, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Pratis JC and Avinash Bohra. are India's Monty Desai is the coach of the Nepalese team.
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