Nepal will play against Bangladesh today for a spot in the semi-final of the U19 Cricket World Cup in host country Bangladesh. Bangladesh topped Group A defeating Namibia by eight wickets on Tuesday and confirmed the quarter-final clash with Nepal. Nepal had finished as runner-ups of Group D after their defeat against India on Monday. On Saturday, Nepal play Ireland, a team they have dominated lately. And if they pull off another victory, they will all but advance to the quarterfinals, which would be their best performance since they lifted the Plate (second tier) trophy in 2006. Its a holiday in Bangladesh, the Mirpur stadium is expected to see full attendance. While the home fans will be in majority, one of Nepal's student community, most of them doing their MBBS in Bangladesh, could also make their presence felt.Both teams had a cracking start to their World Cup campaign, with Bangladesh stunning defending champions South Africa and Nepal getting the better of New Zealand. Nepal have not shown any signs of stage fright as yet and Bangladesh too seem a highly-confident lot. A promising start to the knock-out stages is certainly on the cards.
Nepal U19 (From): Kushal Bhurtel, Raju Rijal(w/c), Dipendra Singh, Himanshu Dutta, Sandeep Lamichhane, Rajbir Singh, Dipesh Shrestha, Prem Tamang, Aarif Sheikh, Sunil Dhamala, Sushil Kandel, Saurav Khanal, Ishan Pandey, Shankar Rana, Sandeep Sunar, Yogendra Singh Karki
