‘Dream come true’ - Stars of Nepal’s historic U19 triumph reflect on reaching Super Six stage

When Nepal needed six runs to win with two wickets in hand, Khanal sat alone, next to the team dugout, on his knees with his hands on his head, praying for a miracle and simultaneously rueing about not seeing his team over the finish line.

“I was just praying to God that we have done so much hard work over the last couple of months back home. We have not seen our families in the last two months and everybody is here, doing the hard work.” Khanal spoke to ICC Digital in an exclusive conversation.

Khanal led the way with a well-made 58 off 89 balls chasing 146 against Afghanistan. He was dismissed by Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar when Nepal still needed 18 runs.

Nepal had only three wickets in hand. Faridoon Dawoodzai came back into the attack and bowled the set batter Dipak Bohara (27) and Chand (1) in back-to-back overs. And Afghanistan found themselves in a script similar to their previous clash against New Zealand, one wicket to win and one run to defend.

Then, Subash Bhandari maintained his composure and dragged Nepal over the finish line with a four down to the fence on the off-side that brought jubilation in the knowledge that they had qualified for the Super Six phase.

“It’s huge. It’s a dream come true for us. You know, we have been preparing for this over the last couple of months. We know we can do it and we believe that. We can play good cricket at this level as well,” Khanal added.

“And we proved that. We stood up and showed the character.”

When it came to showing character, Chand stood atop and the skipper acknowledged his gallant effort of becoming the first Nepal fast bowler to grab a five-wicket haul in the ICC Men’s U19 World Cup history (5/34).

“He’s the most hard-working guy. He comes first, he goes last. He’s that kind of character and he deserved it. We know how good he is,” Khanal said.

“It’s a huge, huge honour for him. It’s always his name on the top of the ICC page for taking five wickets for the country.”

Nepal get ready for their Super Six stage clash against Bangladesh on 31 January and India on 2 February, both at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.