Rain ends Nepal’s Asian Games cricket campaign

Nepal’s cricket team was knocked out of the 20th Asian Games on Tuesday after its quarter-final against Sri Lanka was called off due to rain.

The match at the Korogi Sports Park in Nagoya, Japan, was abandoned without even a toss. Under the tournament rules, the higher-ranked team advances if a match cannot be played, sending Nepal out of the competition. Sri Lanka are ranked ninth and Nepal 14th in the ICC Twenty20 rankings.

Nagoya has been hit by continuous rain since Saturday. Nepal’s final group-stage match against Japan on Saturday was also washed out by the weather. On Monday, the matches between Pakistan and Hong Kong and between India and Pakistan were both abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Nepal had opened its campaign with a five-wicket win over Afghanistan. Its final group-stage match against Japan was then affected by rain. The match was reduced to 15 overs, with Nepal scoring 149 for four. However, rain returned immediately after Nepal’s innings, preventing Japan from batting.

Binod Pandey is a sports reporter for the Kantipur Publications.