Sharad Veshwakar’s outstanding 49 runs couldn’t salvage Nepal as his teammates failed to maintain his batting temperament losing to India by 70 runs in the ongoing Under-17 Asia Cup at Bangalore, India.

Nepal entered the second round defeating Malaysia and Qatar with ease but failed to maintain the tempo. Nepal takes on Pakistan on Tuesday and Bahrain on Thursday. Nepal must win both the matches to advance into the final four.

India won the toss and electing to bat first amassed 198 runs losing 8 wickets in the allotted 45 overs match.

Raj Shrestha claimed the first wicket of opener Ali Mirtaza after he scored 50 runs. Then skipper Paras Kahadka sent Raviraj Patil back to the pavilion in just 2 runs. Raj returned to oust opening batsment Udaya Kaul for 35 leaving India 94/3.

Angel Acharya then got Ravi Kanta Shukla out for 10 runs. But, the men of the match AG Pradeep frustrated Nepalese spinners as he went on to score an unbeaten 52 runs off just 67 balls.

In reply, chasing a formidable target of 199 runs, Nepal was all out for meager 128 runs. Opener Sharad Veshwakar gave a flying start to Nepal. He scored 49 runs including six boundaries.

But Nepal faced an early set back as his opening partner Mahesh Chhetri was out for a duck off Jagrut Mehta. Pawan Das who replaced Chhetri also failed to support Veshwakar as he was caught be Udaya Kaul off Jagrut after he scored 6 runs.

Skipper Paras Khadka was the second highest scorer with 19 runs off 50 balls. But the following batsmen completely failed to perform and Nepal was packed for 128 runs.

For India Pyush Chawla took three wickets giving 27 runs while Shabaz Nadeem and Jagrut Mehta snatched two wickets each.