Abraham knock fails to save UAE

Dubai: Rueben Abraham's valiant half century went in vain as the UAE went down fighting to defending champion Nepal in the semi-final of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-17 Elite Cup in Kathmandu on Tuesday.

The UAE lost by 21 runs despite restricting the strong Nepal batting line up to 144 runs. Abraham hit a fighting 59 in the UAE's total of 123 runs.

It was a disappointing end to some of the enthusiastic parents of the UAE players in Dubai, who managed to see the action live here on Nepal television. The parents of Ameya Dighe, Siddharth Sekhar, Reuben Abraham and Saurabhkant Gir assembled in a labour camp in Al Quoz, which showed Nepal TV, and cheered for the team.

Nepal won the toss and elected to bat. The UAE's opening bowler Shaaz Ahmad provided an excellent start, clean bowling the Nepal openers Sagar Pun for one run and Kiten Gurung for six.

One-down Aaksah Pariyar and skipper Prithu Baskota put on 48 runs for the third wicket. Left-arm spinner Sekhar provided the breakthrough by having Baskota caught by Gir for 25.

UAE skipper Mohammad Salaar Waqar had next man Pradeep Airee caught by Gir and also dismissed Pariyar for 31. Sekhar struck again to pick two more wickets to return with figures of 3 for 21. Waqar too picked three wickets for 16. Nepal would have been shot out for a smaller total but for an unbeaten knock of 27 runs from Bhuvan Karki, which turned out to be crucial in the end.

The UAE began their chase losing the wicket of captain Waqar for 8, clean bowled by Airee. He also clean bowled Venkatkrishna Bargav and trapped Dighe leg before for ducks. The UAE crashed to 25 for 3.

Gir and Abraham put on 68 runs for the fourth wicket and the UAE looked like sailing towards victory. Avinash Karn with a double strike snatched the match away from the UAE. He bowled Gir for 28 and trapped Sekhar for a duck.

Nepal will now meet Malaysia in the final.