U-19 World Cup journey of tagged ‘Giant Killers’ Nepal

Nepal’s Under-19 Cricket team is on the eve of having its 8th ICC Men’s U-19 World Cup appearance. The age-level World Cup commenced on the 19th of January in South Africa. Nepal are playing its first match on 21st January in a 23-day long event.

Before this, Nepal had participated in the years 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, and 2016.

The young Rhinos were missing in 2010, 2014, 2018, 2020, and 2022. 2016’s appearance was the latest for the Himalayan nation on the global stage.

In the ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup history, Nepal played 43 matches altogether, winning 21 of them including the same number of losses, while a match ended without giving a result.

The junior Nepali side are often dubbed as ‘The Giant Killer’ in the global event. They have the reputation of beating renowned sides including New Zealand, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Bangladesh among others. A day before Nepal’s yet another walk on the event, let’s recall their iconic moments from the past editions.

ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2000

The Nepali junior side made their Under-19 World Cup debut back in 2000 against South Africa. Nepal conceded 295 runs against the strong African side, courtesy of an unbeaten 140-ball 295 from Jaques Rudolph. Binod Das, who led the side, took three wickets. Nepal were batting with 24-4 in 12 overs before rain halted the match with no result.

Jaques finished up his career with 48 test matches for the African side including 46 One-Dayers and a Twenty20 International.

Nepal’s second league stage match-up against Pakistan washed out before they beat Kenya by 14 runs to qualify for the Super League stage in their maiden appearance.

ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2002

Nepal gave their second shot in New Zealand in 2002, once again under Binod Das, who is currently acting as the Cricket Manager in the Cricket Association of Nepal.

Nepal defeated Salman Butt-led Pakistan side by 30 runs in their second group-stage encounter after getting hammered by England in the first match. Shakti Gauchan and Sanjam Regmi picked three wickets apiece with Bardan Chalise making a composed 87-ball 42.

Nepal made it into a plate championship with a win over Papua New Guinea. Bardan Chalise became the first-ever Nepali to register half-century in the youth World Cup, he notched up the historical milestone against Namibia in the group-stage match of the Plate Championship. He took 127 balls for his 69 runs which included seven boundaries.

Nepal went on to lose the Plate Championship Final against Zimbabwe with Brendan Taylor scoring a century.

ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2004

Nepal made its third consecutive participation in the mega event. Despite Sharad Vesawkar scoring 82 off 121 balls, the Shakti-led side failed to surpass the Englishmen’s challenge in their opening battle.

Shakti Gauchan scored an unbeaten 51 runs and took 2 wickets as Nepal defeated strong South Africa by one wicket in the second match of the event. Vernon Philander and Roelof van der Merwe (currently playing for the Netherlands) are among some of the international stars from the Under-19 African squad.

Nepal hammered Uganda in the third and last group stage contest by five wickets and qualified for the Plate Championship, thanks to their third-position finish in the group. Shakti again sparked with an unbeaten 80 runs and three wickets.

Nepal came out victorious against PNG in the first Plate Championship match-up before being beaten by Scotland and Australia. Kaniska Chaugai scored 90 not out off 124 balls against PNG.

ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2006

Nepal’s youth side continued their glorious run at the age level with the wins over New Zealand and South Africa in 2006 at Sri Lanka.

Nepal stunned New Zealand to win the Plate Championship Final in Nepal’s most successful campaign in the event’s history. Basanta Regmi was the player-of-the-match in the final for his all-round efforts, 66 runs, and three wickets with the ball.

The Blackcaps squad was filled with Martin Guptill, Tim Southee, and Colin Munro among others.

Kaniska-led side defeated Dean Elgar’s South Africa in the Semi-Final of the Plate Championship. Elgar is among the most prolific Proteas cricketers with 86-test matches under his belt followed by 8 One-Day Internationals.

ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2008

Nepal went on to participate in their fifth successive youth World Cup under the leadership of Paras Khadka, who now become the most successful and prolific cricketer in the country.

The Himalayan Rhinos defeated Zimbabwe in the ninth-place quarter-final of the event. The other wins for Nepal in the event came against Namibia twice, once in the group stage followed by a win in the ninth-place semi-final.

ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2012

After missing the opportunity in 2010, the landlord country made it into the final allocation of the mage event in 2012 under the leadership of Prithu Baskota.

Nepal only wins two matches in the event, against Namibia and PNG. They faced defeats against Australia, Ireland, England, and Sri Lanka. The alien condition of Australia might have hampered the performance of the less exposed Nepali side.

In the same edition, Pradeep Aaire made the highest-ever individual score for Nepal in the Under-19 World Cup history against Namibia where he scored an unbeaten 98 off only 76 balls. Bhuvan Karki picked the first-ever fifer in the mega-event for the Nepalese side against Namibia. Rahul Viswakarma joined the elite list in the following match against PNG with six wickets to his name.

ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2016

Nepal made a significant move on their last Under-19 World Cup appearance back in 2016. They beat New Zealand and Ireland to make it into the quarter-final where they lost against the host Bangladesh. Nepal secured 7th place in the event by defeating Namibia before surrendering against Pakistan in the 5th play-off.

Sandeep Lamichhane produced eye-catching performances throughout the event, especially against Ireland where he took fifer including a hat-trick. His second ball to Saif Badar in the 21st over against Pakistan is globally compared with the late Shane Warne’s historical ball of the century.

After eight long years of wait, ‘The Giant Killers’ are finally back in the fold in the ICC Under-19 World Cup. The experience of Dev Khanal is leading the Gulshan Jha included squad and are placed in Group ‘D’ among Pakistan, New Zealand, and Afghanistan.

Here are Nepal’s fixtures for the event:

21st January, 2024: Nepal vs New Zealand
24th January, 2024: Nepal vs Pakistan
26th January, 2024: Nepal vs Afghanistan