21 Asar, Kathmandu
Nepal has won the ACC U-16 East Zone Cup by defeating Singapore in a nail-biting final held on Saturday. The young Nepali team secured the title with a 2-wicket victory.

Chasing a modest target of 114 runs set by Singapore, Nepal reached the goal in 29 overs, losing 8 wickets in the process. Joey Thapa played a crucial unbeaten knock of 24 runs, anchoring the innings, while Shivansh Bajgain contributed 20 runs.

Despite a strong start at 40/1, Nepal faltered and fell to 58/5 after losing quick wickets. Joey Thapa then formed a vital partnership with Shubham Khanal to steady the innings. When the score reached 91/6, Shubham was dismissed for 16 runs. Nepal then lost two more quick wickets and found themselves at a shaky 92/8. However, Joey remained composed and struck three boundaries, while Abhay Yadav sealed the victory with a six.

Singapore’s Kapish Venkataraman was the standout bowler, taking 4 wickets, while Yuvan Pandey claimed 2. Akash Teja and Vedansh Gupta took one wicket each.

Earlier, Singapore won the toss and chose to bat first but were bowled out for 113 runs in 40.5 overs. Rohan Austin was the top scorer for Singapore with 23 runs, facing over 90 deliveries. Rihan Naik added 15 runs.

Nepal’s bowlers put in a brilliant performance. Abhay Yadav took 3 wickets for 34 runs in his 10 overs, while Sushil Bahadur Rawal also claimed 3 wickets. Shubham Khanal took 2 wickets, and captain Bipin Prasad Sharma grabbed 1.

Nepal remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, including a win over Singapore in the group stage.

This marks Nepal’s second consecutive ACC U-16 East Zone Cup title, having won the previous edition in 2023. Before that, Nepal also won the championship when it was held as the ACC U-16 Eastern Region tournament in 2017 and 2019.