Image Credit- ICC
On Friday in East London, Afghanistan and Nepal had
everything to play for, and play they did, toe-to-toe, inch-for-inch, to an
exhilarating conclusion amid suspenseful drama. After defeating Afghanistan by
a single wicket, Nepal advanced to the men’s Under-19 World Cup Super Six
stage; however, the match may have been about more than just the outcome and
the configuration of the following round of competition.
At different points, Nepal appeared to have it all
under control, first with Aakash Chand smashing through the Afghanistan batting
and then with captain Dev Khanal caressing his way to a fifty-eight-ball
fifty-ee. However, Afghanistan never gives up, no matter what level of the game
they are playing. Subash Bhandari, who had earlier returned 1 for 15 from 8.1
overs, took it deep before he poked at one outside off to Arab Gul’s legspin,
gained a good edge and fired it through a crowded off-side field for four.
Agreement reached. The game itself was as chaotic as the celebrations were.
Chand, who went on to earn Player of the Match, set up
the victory. Afghanistan chose to bat, and by the tenth over, they were
struggling at 34 for 5. Of those, four were taken by Chand. Hassan Eisakhil
(20), Naseer Khan Maroofkhil (31), and Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar (37), led the
counteroffensive, but Afghanistan could only muster 145 points. With Eisakhil
as his fifth wicket, Chand completed with a 5 for 34 total.
Nepal’s response got off to an almost equally shaky
start when Khalil Ahmed and Faridoon Dawoodzai cut them down to 24 for 3.
However, a commanding Khanal and a reserved Aakash Tripathi seemed to steal the
game from Afghanistan, scoring the best innings-long partnership of 49 runs
between them.
There had to be a twist, and in the twenty-fourth
over, Maroofkhil sent Tripathi back with 73 runs still to reach the goal. Even
though a few more wickets went at the other end, Khanal remained steady until
Ghazanfar trapped him for 58 runs.
That made a total of 127 for 7. The overs were not a
problem, but Afghanistan was pursuing Nepal hard. With six runs remaining,
Dipak Bohora fell, but he made sure it waved enough to put Nepal within
striking distance of victory. The dot balls piled up as fielders swarmed around
the bat at that point, but Bhandari eventually found a way out.