Kathmandu, August 13The Asian Cricket Council has decided to change the venue of its flagship U-19 Asia Cup from India to Malaysia after Pakistan said it can’t participate if the tournament is held in Bengaluru.
PCB Chairman Najam Sethi, who also heads the ACC told Cricinfo: “The matter of shifting the tournament to Malaysia was amicably agreed by all participants in the development and executive committees since no one wanted it marred by security considerations of any member.”
The tournament is to be held from November 4-15 in Malaysia. Nepal are to play their Eastern Region Qualifiers for the event in Malaysia (Sept 10-22) and are pitted against Bhutan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Myanmar. Top two sides from the Eastern region get to play the tournament in Malaysia. It was not clear whether Malaysia will get to play the tournament as hosts.
Nepal’s rivals Afghanistan are pitted in the Western Region pool and are up against Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, The Maldives, Bahrain, Iran and the UAE.
The last edition of the tournament was held in Sri Lanka in December 2016. The tournament is memorable for both the Lankans and the Nepalis as the home side beat Nepal by just one run, despite a stellar batting performance from Vice-captain Dipendra Singh Airee.
The Nepali U-19 team recently suffered two consecutive losses against Afghanistan and failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
