Former champions Bangladesh will start the super six campaign of the ICC U-19 Men's World Cup'2024, taking on their South Asian rivals Nepal, the 3rd-ranked team in Group D, at 2.00 p.m. at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein in South Africa, on Wednesday.
Bangladesh finished second to India in Group A and will be favourites to win this tie but never count out Nepal. Nepal qualified for the Super Six stage of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup in dramatic fashion after they defeated Afghanistan by 1 wicket in their Group D match on January 26.
The young Tigers could not have had a tougher opening fixture in the tournament when they took on but lost by 84 runs against India U-19s. However, they then made easy work of Ireland and who they beat by 6 wickets and 121 runs respectively. Many pundits have been very impressed by Bangladesh.
Bangladesh come into this match after almost posting a score of 300 in their last game. Ariful Islam was the star batter hitting a run a ball 103 and he was well backed up by Cowdhur Md Rizwan (35) and Ahrar Amin (44) who will all be full of confidence ahead of Wednesday’s game. Overall, Bangladesh will have been disappointed to concede 170 against USA in the second innings of the match on Friday and their bowling attack will need to be better in this game. Maruf Mridha and Chowdhur Md Rizwan will arrive in Bloemfontein after going wicketless in the last match.
Nepal may have got their first win of the competition but it was a very narrow victory against Afghanistan and we think they will find Bangladesh to be a tough opponent in this game. Young Tigers have been impressive throughout the tournament and we are backing them to win the match.
After losing by 64 runs against New Zealandand 5 wickets against Pakistan U-19s, Nepal got their first win of the tournament when they beat Afghanistan by 1 wicket in their final game. They need to win this match though, as they begin the Super Sixes on zero points. Nepal lost their two openers in the competition but then got a narrow win in their last match.
