Nepal's chances of reaching the second round of the ICC U-19 Women's Twenty20 World Cup have become very weak. Scotland beat Nepal by 1 wicket in a dramatic match in Malaysia on Monday.
This is Nepal's second consecutive defeat. Nepal lost the first match against Bangladesh by 5 wickets. Nepal will now play against Australia on Wednesday. In Group D, Australia has 4 points and Bangladesh and Scotland have 2 points each. Nepal is numberless. The top three teams in the group will advance to the 'Super Four'. Scotland and Bangladesh will compete in the final match of the group stage. Nepal, who is playing the U-19 Women's Twenty20 World Cup for the first time, has a slim chance of reaching the Super Four only if they defeat Australia in the final match. Rachna Chaudhary dismissed Pippa Sproul and Maisie Makeira in the 17th over as Scotland raced to a 58-9 victory target of 74 runs at the YSD UKM Cricket Oval. However, the last pairing of Gabriela Fontenella and Christy McCall gave Scotland a thrilling victory by sharing an unbeaten 16 runs.
Fontainela remained unbeaten on 6 runs with 1 four off 9 balls and McCall with 1 four off 4 balls. Sproul top scored for Scotland with 35 runs. She hit 3 fours off 47 balls. From Nepal, Rachna and Simana took 2-2 and captain Pooja Mahato and Krishma Gurung took 1-1 wicket each. Rachna spent 13 runs in 3 overs and Simana spent 16 runs in 4 overs.
Earlier, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, Nepal was bowled out for 73 runs in 18.5 overs. Pooja scored the highest 27 runs. She hit 3 fours off 43 balls. Opener Savitri Dhami scored 10 runs off 11 balls with 1 boundary. Others from Nepal who played without vice-captain Soni Pakhryn could not score runs in double figures.
Sana Praveen 1, Jyotsanika Marasini and Kiran Kunwar 4-4, Krishma 2, Simana 1, Elisa Yadav 3, Rachna Zero and Rhea Sharma were out for 2 runs. Anu Kadayat remained unbeaten on 5 runs. Makeira took 5 wickets from Scotland. She spent only 15 runs in 3.5 overs. Amy Baldi and Naima Sheikh took 2 wickets each.
