Nepal U-19 cricket team clinched a hard fought three wicket victory over Singapore Saturday to cruise to the semifinal of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup cricket tournament in Kuwait.

Singapore won the toss and made 171 runs losing all wickets. In reply, Nepal lost its wickets at frequent intervals but skipper Gyanendra Malla played a captain’s knock of 62 runs to win the match.

Rom Shrestha was the pick of the Nepali bowlers with 3-29 from 10 overs while Sagar Khadka took 2-24 from 10 overs. Amrit Bhattarai (1-30), Chandra Saud (1-28), Lal Bahadur Adhikari (1-35) and Prithu Banskota (1-9) also bagged one wicket apiece.

Earlier, Nepal had defeated Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Nepal collected six points from three matches to enter semifinal but still has one match left in hand.

Nepal will play their last Group ‘A’ match against Hong Kong at Hubara grounds on Monday. nepalnews.com bt Apr 26 09