Nepal beat Afghanistan and will play Japan on Saturday for a quarterfinal spot — Kathmandu Post

Nepal’s cricket team defeated Afghanistan by five wickets in the group stage of the men’s Asian Games tournament in Nisshin, Japan. Afghanistan, batting first, scored 102 runs for seven wickets. Nepal reached the target with five wickets and 16 balls to spare, Kathmandu Post reports.

On Saturday, Nepal will face the hosts, Japan. A victory in this match will take the team to the quarterfinals and preserve its chances of Nepal’s first medal in men’s cricket at the Asian Games.

Bowlers’ contribution

Kushal Bhurtel was named player of the match against Afghanistan, taking four wickets in four overs and conceding 21 runs. In one of the overs, he took two wickets in consecutive deliveries. Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took three wickets, conceding 13 runs.

Dipendra Singh Airee and Sandeep Lamichhane took no wickets but conceded 21 and 18 runs respectively. Nepal’s bowlers allowed only six extras: two wides and four byes.

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Nepal’s top scorers were Sundeep Jora, who made 34 runs off 35 balls, Rohit Kumar Paudel with 33 off 32, and Airee with 15 off 18.

Group situation

Group A includes Nepal, Afghanistan and Japan, while Group B features Malaysia, Hong Kong and Oman. The top two teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals. The winner of Group A will play Sri Lanka, while the second-placed team will face India.

Japan have already lost to Afghanistan: the Afghan team scored 129/6, after which Japan were bowled out for 81 runs. In October last year, Nepal also had a difficult match against Japan in qualifying for the 2026 T20 World Cup: Japan set a target of 132 runs, and Nepal completed the chase in the 18th over, having lost five wickets.